Barkalov was born in the village of Vvedenka near Kharkiv and graduated from the Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute. Before choosing water polo, he played basketball for the Kharkiv city team, as well as football. Since 1957 he competed in water polo for and in 1971 changed to . Since 1976 he acted both as a player and a coach for Dynamo Kyiv. After retirement in 1980 he became the head coach of the Junior Water Polo Team of Ukraine. Between 1990 and 1994 he worked in Yugoslavia, coaching the water polo club of Novi Sad. He then returned to Ukraine and from 1997 to 1999 acted as President of the Water Polo Federation of Ukraine. He received the following awards: Order of Friendship, Order For Merit to the Fatherland (3rd class) and Order of Merit (Ukraine).[1][2]
Barkalov married Lyudmila Khazieva, a competitive swimmer who won a European bronze medal in 1966. Their only son, Dmitri, also played competitive water polo, but then became a businessman and was killed in 2001 at the age 32.[4] This tragedy shattered the health of Barkalov, who died of a heart attack three years later.[1]
