His father, Valeri Znarok, was a football (soccer) player at the time, who later had a long coaching career.

A young Oleg was introduced to hockey, when his grandfather brought him and his younger brother to a local skating rink.

Playing for 23 years, across several leagues: Soviet, German, as well as several games in the Czech Extraliga and the AHL of North America.

One of Znarok's youth teammates from Traktor Chelyabinsk was Vyachislav Bykov, who played for CSKA Moscow and the Soviet National Team.

He'd be replaced (after finishing 6th at the 2010 Winter Olympics and 4th at the 2011 IIHF WC) in favor of Zinetula Bilyaletdinov, a former star player of rival Dynamo Moscow, who coached the Russian team to a gold medal in 2012, posting an undefeated record of 10–0.

As Oleg did not speak English and had no one nearby to translate it for him, he turned it down when he thought the dollar amount was too low.

Znarok started his ice hockey career at Traktor Chelyabinsk, making his debut in the 1979–80 season.

Although not productive at the senior level as a teenager, his first career goal came against the legendary Soviet goaltender Vladislav Tretiak.

In 1987–88 season, he led his team to a second-place finish in the Soviet Championship League's playoffs, losing 3–1 to CSKA Moscow in the final.

In the 1991–92 season he played 6 games with the Maine Mariners of the American Hockey League (AHL), scoring 3 goals and 1 assist.

In the 1992–93 season, he helped EV Landsberg earn a promotion from the Oberliga to the 2nd Bundesliga, on the strength of his astonishing 220 points in just 66 games, scoring 77 goals and 143 assists.

He was a highly dominant player for the rest of his playing career, representing EV Landsberg, EHC Freiburg and Heilbronner EC.

[5] In 1981, Znarok was called up to the Soviet Union under-18 team, where he became a European champion, putting up 16 points (8 goals, 8 assists) in 5 games.

This allowed him in 1990 to be loaned to Dynamo Moscow's squad for their Super Series tour of North America.

In 1990, he was called up to the Soviet Union national team for the Japan Cup, where he put up 8 points (4 goals, 4 assists) over 4 games.

He played in 5 IIHF World Championships and help promote Latvia to the top division of international competition in 1996.

Znarok led the tournament with 6 goals in 6 games and added 2 assists with 18 PIM, making the All-Star team.

In his third effort, Latvia faced some of the top national teams of the world, placed in a group with Canada, United States and Sweden.

[7] On 1 June 2016, he was named head coach of SKA Saint Petersburg, in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) with whom he won the 2016–17 Gagarin Cup.