Robertas Žulpa

Robertas Žulpa from Lithuania and Arsens Miskarovs from Latvia were the best Soviet breaststroke swimmers in the early 1980s. Žulpa made his international début at the 1978 World Championships, where he was fifth in the 200 breaststroke. Next, Žulpa competed at the 1980 Olympics where, somewhat surprisingly, he won gold in the 200 metre breaststroke, but did not advance to the final of the 100. At the 1981 European Championships Žulpa won gold in the 200 breaststroke and, at the 1983 European Championships, he won gold in the 100 breast and medley relay and bronze in the 200 breast. Žulpa also won silver in the 200 breaststroke at the 1982 World Championships. Domestically, at the Soviet championships, Žulpa won three Soviet titles (200 breaststroke in 1979, 1981 and 1983), one silver (1983 100 breaststroke) and four bronze medals (200 breast in 1978 and 1984, 1981 100 breast, and 1979 400 IM). He was also a six-time Lithuanian SSR champion between 1977-83. After finishing his sporting career, Žulpa worked as a swimming coach, first in his native Lithuania and since 1988 in Italy. He has also worked as an Italian-Russian and Italian-Lithuanian translator.

Personal Best: 100 m breaststroke – 1:03.32 (1982); 200 m breaststroke – 2:15.36 (1980).