Olga Kuragina was a very promising young pentathlete in the late 1970s, but her career was cut short by the IAAF’s decision to switch from pentathlon to heptathlon after the 1980 Olympics. The 21-year-old Kuragina set a pentathlon world record of 4,856 points at the 1980 Soviet Championships, just a month before the Olympics. After the switch to heptathlon, she continued to compete, but with less success, setting her heptathlon personal best of 6,299 points at the 1983 Soviet Championships. In addition to her 1980 title, Kuragina also won a pentathlon silver at the 1979 Soviet Championships. She worked as an athletics coach in Moskva after finishing her sports career.
Personal Best: Pen – 4875 (1980).
Soviet Union
Russian Federation