Nadezhda Olizarenko
Quick Facts
Biography
Nadezhda Fyodorovna Olizarenko (Russian: Надежда Фёдоровна Олизаренко; née Mushta; 28 November 1953, Bryansk, Bryansk Oblast, Russian SFSR) is a retired international track athlete. She represented the Soviet Union and competed mainly in the 800 metres race, in which she won the Olympic gold medal in 1980.
Biography
Olizarenko competed for Soviet Union in the 1980 Summer Olympics held in Moscow, Russia, in the 800 metres, where she won the gold medal ahead of country women Olga Mineyeva and Tatyana Providokhina for a Soviet clean sweep of the medals. This added to the bronze medal she won in the 1500 metres at the same games.
In 1980 Olizarenko set a world record and also her personal best over 800 metres with 1:53.43; this record stood until 1983, when it was bettered by Jarmila Kratochvílová. As of 2015, it is still the number two all-time mark in women's 800 metres. She won the gold medal in the 800 metres at the 1986 European Championships in Athletics.
She co-holds the current world record in the rarely contested 4 × 800 metres relay (7:50.17 minutes with Irina Podyalovskaya, Lyubov Gurina and Lyudmila Borisova).
She is married to the Ukrainian steeplechase runner Serhiy Olizarenko.