Olga Bondarenko

Olga Bondarenko took up athletics in 1971 and was one of the world’s top female long-distance runners in the 1980s. Selected for the Soviet national team in 1984, she missed her first opportunity to medal at the Olympics when the Soviet Union boycotted the 1984 Olympics. She instead ran at the 1984 Friendship Games, winning a bronze medal in the 3,000, the longest track event run by women back then at major international meets. Bondarenko’s strength, however, was at longer distances than the 3K. After breaking her first 10K world record of 32:30.80 in 1981, she set her second 10K world record in May 1984, clocking 31:13.78. At the 1986 European Championships, Bondarenko won gold in the 3,000 and silver in the 10,000. The apex of her career came at the 1988 Olympics, where she won a 10K gold medal after the favorite, Norway’s Ingrid Kristiansen, had to drop out due to an injury.

Bondarenko won the 5K at the 1986 Goodwill Games and the 10K at the 1985 European Cup, adding 3K silvers at the 1985 European Indoors and 1987 World Indoors, and bronzes in the 3K at the 1987 European Cup and the 10K at the 1985 World Cup. She also helped win team gold, silver and bronze at the 1988, 1985 and 1987 International Cross-Country Championships, respectively. She won seven Soviet titles – 3K in 1985 and 1987; 5K in 1985; 10K in 1984-85 and 1987; and 1985 in cross-country.

Personal Best: 10000 – 30:57.21 (1986).