Nikolay Karpol

Nikolay Karpol
Nikolay Karpol at the Kremlin in 2018
Personal information
Full name Nikolay Vasilyevich Karpol
Nickname The Howling Bear
Born 1 May 1938
Bereznica, Polesie Voivodeship, Second Polish Republic
Coaching information
Previous teams coached
Years Teams
1969-present VC Uralochka-NTMK Yekaterinburg

Nikolay Vasiliyevich Karpol (Russian: Николай Васильевич Карполь; 1 May 1938, Bereznitsa village, former Polesie Voivodeship, Republic of Poland) is a Russian women's volleyball coach and a longstanding coach of the Soviet and then Russian women's national teams.. Known as The Howling Bear, Karpol was a regular at the Olympic Games, with his teams usually earning a last call on the Olympic podium, winning gold medals in 1980 and 1988 and taking the silver medals in 1992, 2000 and 2004 for a total of five Olympic medals. In 2020, he set a new world record by coaching Uralochka for 51 years.

Honours

Olympics Games (as coach):

  • 1980, 1988 – gold,
  • 1992, 2000, 2004 – silver.

World Championships:

  • 1990 – gold,
  • 1994, 1998, 2002 – bronze.

Championships of Europe:

  • 1977 (coach), 1979, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1997, 1999, 2001 – gold

World Grand Champions Cup:

  • 1993 – bronze,
  • 1997 – gold,
  • 2001 – silver.

Grand-prix:

  • 1997, 1999, 2002 – gold,
  • 1998, 2000, 2003 – silver,
  • 1993, 1996, 2001 – bronze.

Winner of the European Championese League (Champions Cup):

  • 1981–1983, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1994, 1995.

For lifetime dedication and great career, he was inducted in 2009 to the Volleyball Hall of Fame.

Croatian journalist and publicist Tomislav Birtic published a book Karpol: Lunatics - That's What I Need.

Honours and awards