Nadezhda Olizarenko

Nadezhda Olizarenko (née Mushta) took up athletics in 1967 and was selected for the Soviet national team in 1977. She was one of the world’s top female middle-distance runners in the late 1970s and early 1980s, débuting internationally at the 1978 European Championships, where she won silver medals in the 800 and 4x400 relay. In 1979 Olizarenko won 800 gold at the Universiade and 800 silver at the World Cup. Just a month before the 1980 Olympics, Olizarenko set her first 800 world record clocking of 1:54.85 in Moskva and went to the 1980 Olympics as the gold medal favorite. She did not disappoint, winning the 800 metres with a world record 1:53.43, adding a bronze medal in the 1,500 three days later.

Olizarenko initially retired from sports after the 1980 Olympics, but attempted a comeback in 1984 to compete at her second Olympics, but when the Soviet Union boycotted the 1984 Olympics, Olizarenko competed at the Friendship Games, winning a bronze medal in the 800. Hoping to go to a second Olympics, Olizarenko continued to compete and won gold in the 800 at the 1986 Europeans, adding silvers at the 1985 European Indoors and European Cup, and a bronze at the 1985 World Cup. She competed at her second Olympics in 1988, but past her prime, was eliminated in the semi-finals of the 800. She won only three Soviet titles – 1977 in cross-country, 1979 in 4x800 relay, and the 1988 800 metres. Olizarenko finished her sports career after the fall of the Soviet Union and later worked as an athletics coach in Odesa, Ukraine.

Personal Bests: 800 – 1:53.43 (1980); 1500 – 3:56.8 (1980).