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Russia’s esteemed volleyball coach Karpol bound for Guinness Book of World Records

Karpol, who has been training Uralochka, a Russian women’s volleyball club, since 1969, celebrated his 82nd birthday on May 1

Nikolay Karpol Donat Sorokin/TASS

Nikolay Karpol

© Donat Sorokin/TASS

MOSCOW, May 20. /TASS/. Russia’s merited volleyball coach Nikolay Karpol told TASS on Wednesday that he was setting his sights on entering the Guinness Book of World Records after coaching a single volleyball club for more than half of a century.

"We have not yet applied [for the World Record], but I have already exceeded the previous record by one year, having coached one team for 51 years," the Russian volleyball coach revealed to TASS.

Karpol, who has been training Uralochka, a Russian women’s volleyball club, since 1969, celebrated his 82nd birthday on May 1.

"If we speak about me personally, I should say that I intend to continue working as long as my health allows me to do so," he said, adding that the next season with Uralochka club will be his 52nd career season.

"We are currently awaiting the moment to resume our training," Karpol said. "We have permitted the team to take a break until July 1."

In 2017, the Russian coach announced his intention to break the previous record set by a Canadian coach, who worked with one club for 50 years. President of the Russian Volleyball Federation Stanislav Shevchenko said on Tuesday that the federation would file a corresponding application to register Karpol’s record.

Taking the helm as Uralochka’s head coach in 1969, Karpol led the club to 11 national championship victories during the Soviet era and to 14 wins in Russian national championships.

Nicknamed by the foreign media as ‘The Howling Bear,’ Karpol gained global recognition after leading the Soviet national women’s volleyball team to winning two Olympic gold medals in 1980 and 1988 and then helping to clinch two Olympic silver medals in the capacity of the Russian national team’s head coach (in 2000 and 2004). He also earned a silver medal at the 1992 Summer Olympic Games in Barcelona as the head coach of the national team of the Commonwealth of Independent States.

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