Nadiya Tkachenko

Nadiya Tkachenko

Tkachenko at the Moscow Olympics, 1980
Medal record
Women's Athletics
Representing the  Soviet Union
Olympic Games
	1980 Moscow	Pentathlon
Universiade
	1973 Moscow	Pentathlon
European Championships
	1974 Rome	Pentathlon

Nadiya Volodymyrivna Tkachenko (Ukrainian: Надія Володимирівна Ткаченко) or Nadezhda Vladimirovna Tkachenko (Russian: Надежда Владимировна Ткаченко) (born 19 September 1948) is a Ukrainian former pentathlete who won gold at the 1980 Olympics.^[1][2] She was born in Kremenchuk, then in the Ukrainian SSR in the Soviet Union,^[1] and took up pentathlon aged 18 training at the Vanguard Voluntary Sports Societies of the Soviet Union in Donetsk Oblast.^[1][2] She came second in pentathlon in the Soviet championships of 1971 and 1972,^[2] and competed three times for the Soviet Union at the Olympics.^[1][2]

She set her first world record (4839 points) winning the 1977 European Cup.^[1][3] She won the 1974 European title, but was stripped of the 1978 title after testing positive for anabolic steroids and given an 18-month ban.^[4][5] In May 1980, just after the ban, she scored 4880 points, which was not ratified as a record because the races were hand timed.^[6] In July she won the 1980 Olympic title with 5083 points,^[1][7] becoming the only woman ever to break 5000 points outdoors,^{[n 1][1]} with the final world record before the event was replaced in 1981 by the heptathlon.^[1] The Soviet government awarded her the Order of the Red Banner of Labour and the title Honored Master of Sports of the USSR.^[2]

Since retiring from competition she has worked as a youth sports coach in Donetsk, of which she was named an honorary citizen in 2005.^[2] A youth athletics competition in the city is named after her.^[2]

Footnote

1. Strictly, the only woman to break 5000 points using the 1971 scoring tables, under which Burglinde Pollak's 1970 record score of 5406 was reduced to 4775.^[8] The indoor record of 5013 points was set in 2012 with the 1985 tables.

References

1. OlyMADMen. "Nadiya Tkachenko Bio, Stats, and Results". Sports-Reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
2. "Ткаченко Надія Володимирівна [Tkachenko Nadiya Volodymyrivna]". Олімпійці Донбасу [Donbass Olympians] (in Ukrainian). Donetsk Regional Branch, Ukrainian Olympic Committee. 20 March 2012. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
3. "A roundup of the week Sept. 12–18". Sports Illustrated. 26 September 1977. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
4. "Within the IFs: International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF)" (PDF). Olympic Review (134). International Olympic Committee: 725. December 1978. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 September 2016. Retrieved 13 May 2016. five athletes having participated in the European athletic championships in Prague and having had positive doping tests have been stripped of their awards and cannot participate in any athletics events for a minimum period of 18 months. The athletes in question are : Nadjada [sic] Tkachenko [etc.]
5. Holt, John B. (June 1979). "Within the Federations: International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF)" (PDF). Olympic Review (140). International Olympic Committee: 353–4. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 July 2015. Retrieved 13 May 2016. It was agreed to reinstate the following five athletes after a minimum period of 18 months from the date of the competition at which they infringed the IAAF doping rules at the European championships [... : ...] Nadyezhda Tkachenko [etc.]
6. "Within the International Federations: International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF)" (PDF). Olympic Review (155). International Olympic Committee: 514. September 1980. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 September 2018. Retrieved 16 May 2016.
7. Jalava, Mirko (2014). "European Athletics Championships Zürich 2014" (PDF). European Athletic Association. pp. 427, 435. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
8. Matthews, Peter (2012). "Pentathlon". Historical Dictionary of Track and Field. Scarecrow Press. pp. 164–5. ISBN 9780810867819. Retrieved 11 May 2016.