Vladimir Popov

Vladimir Albertovich Popov (; 1 January 1962 – 2 August 2025) was a Russian wrestler. He began wrestling in 1973 and was a silver medalist at the Soviet national championships in 1984 and 1985. He then won a title at the Wrestling World Cup in 1986 before winning gold at the national championships, European Championships and World Championships in 1987. He later won a bronze medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics and gold at the 1989 European Championships before retiring in 1990 and becoming a coach.

Biography Popov was born on 1 January 1962 in Barnaul, Altai Krai, Soviet Union. He grew up a fan of wrestling and had his mother enroll him for instruction at the club DSO "Trud" in 1973, when he was age 11. There, he trained under coach Valentin Permyakov, an Honored Coach of the USSR. In Omsk, he became a member of the wrestling club VS Omsk. He was selected to the Soviet national wrestling team for the first time in 1986. In 1987, he won the USSR Championship in Omsk, which he later described as "my first real victory [which] confirmed for me when that I could really be a champion". Popov retired from wrestling in 1990.

Popov died on 2 August 2025, at the age of 63, in Omsk.