Irina Fetisova (swimmer and rower)

Fetisova was swimming for SKA Leningrad (the Soviet Army Club) and was a member of the Soviet national team from 1970 to 1976.[1] In 1974, she won a national title in the 100 m breaststroke event.[1] At the 1974 European Aquatics Championships, she won a bronze medal in the individual 200 m medley[2] setting a new national record. She finished her swimming career in 1976 and switched to rowing.[1]

In 1977, she became a member of the Soviet national rowing team.[1] She went to the 1977 World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam and came fifth with the coxed quad scull team.[3] She dropped out of the national rowing team after her initial year and became a member again from 1981 to 1984, when she competed in single scull.[1] At the 1981 World Rowing Championships in Munich, she won a bronze medal in her new boat class.[4] She became women's single scull world champion at the 1982 World Rowing Championships in Lucerne, Switzerland.[5] At the 1983 World Rowing Championships in Duisburg, Germany, she won a silver medal.[6] In 1984, she changed to coxed quad scull, displaced by Mariya Danyliuk in the single sculls. She did not go to the 1984 Summer Olympics due to the boycott led by the Soviet Union. Instead, she competed at the Friendship Games, also dubbed the "alternative Olympics", and won first place with the coxed quad sculls. She finished her rowing career in that year.[1]

Fetisova was awarded the Order of the Badge of Honour for her success in rowing.[1]