Olha Bryzhina

Olha Bryzhina (Ukrainian: Ольга Бризгіна, maiden name Olga Arkad'evna Vladykina; Russian: Ольга Аркадьевна Владыкина; born June 30, 1963, in Krasnokamsk, Perm Oblast) is a retired athlete who represented Soviet Union (until 1991) and later Ukraine.

Olha Bryzhina
Portrait of Olha Bryzhina
Personal information
Born (1963-06-30) June 30, 1963
Height1.71 m (5 ft 7+1⁄2 in)
Weight63 kg (139 lb)
Sport
Country Soviet Union
 Ukraine
SportTrack and field
Event(s)4 × 400m relay
Medal record
Olympic Games
Representing  Soviet Union
Gold medal – first place 1988 Seoul 400 m
Gold medal – first place 1988 Seoul 4x400 m relay
Representing  Unified Team
Gold medal – first place 1992 Barcelona 4x400 m relay
Silver medal – second place 1992 Barcelona 400 m
World Championships
Representing  Soviet Union
Gold medal – first place1987 Rome400 m
Gold medal – first place1991 Tokyo4x400 m relay
Silver medal – second place1987 Rome4x400 m relay

Career

Bryzhina trained at Dynamo in Voroshilovgrad. Competing in the 400 metres and 4 x 400 metres relay, she was a particularly successful Olympian with three gold medals and one silver. At the 1988 Olympics the Soviet relay team set a new world record of 3:15.17 minutes which is still unbeaten (2022).[1] Bryzhina also became world champion in 1987.

Bryzhina successfully defeated Florence Griffith Joyner at the 1988 Seoul Olympics in the 4 × 400 m relay. Both runners ran the final leg of the relay and took the baton at about the same time. "Flo-Jo" ran a well paced race, chasing Bryzhina closely, and tried to challenge Bryzhina at the 300m point. However, the challenge from Flo-Jo was unsuccessful and Bryzhina won by a 4m margin, taking gold for the Soviet Union along with a new world record for the USSR team. Bryzhina's time of 47.7 seconds in the 1988 Olympic relay is one of the fastest relay legs ever run by a woman in the history of track and field.

Bryzhina's 400m personal best of 48.27 seconds is the women's 4th best result of all time in a laned 400m race.[2][3][4] She achieved this in the same race that Marita Koch set the current 400m world record of 47.60 seconds on 6 October 1985 at the Bruce Stadium in Canberra (Australia).[3][4]

Bryzhina's husband Viktor Bryzhin was also a champion track athlete, winning gold in the 4 × 100 m relay event at the 1988 Olympics. Together they have two daughters, Yelizaveta Bryzhina and Anastasiia Bryzgina,[5][6][7] who are also a successful track runners (competing for Ukraine).

Bryzhina and her daughter Yelizaveta both had a best performance of 22.44 seconds over 200m as of December 2012.[8][9]

Personal bests

Achievements
YearCompetitionVenuePositionEventNotes
Representing  Soviet Union
1984 Friendship Games Prague, Czechoslovakia 3rd 400 m 49.52
1985 World Cup Canberra, Australia 2nd 400 metres 48.27
1986 European Championships Stuttgart, Germany 2nd 400 metres 49.67
DISQ 4 × 400 m relay
1987 World Championships Rome, Italy 1st 400 metres 49.38
2nd 4 × 400 m relay 3:19.50
1988 Olympic Games Seoul, South Korea 1st 400 metres 48.65
1st 4 × 400 m relay 3:15.17 WR
1991 World Championships Tokyo, Japan 4th 400 metres 49.82
4 × 400 m relay 3:18.47
Representing  Unified Team
1992 European Indoor Championships Genoa, Italy 2nd 400 m 51.48
Olympic Games Barcelona, Spain 2nd 400 metres 49.05
1st 4 × 400 m relay 3:20.20

References
  1. "Athletics - World Record progression". International Olympic Committee. Retrieved September 12, 2006.
  2. IAAF profile for Olga Bryzgina Archived 2012-12-02 at the Wayback Machine
  3. 2012 Olympic Games Statistics - Women’s 400m, Athletics Weekly
  4. START LIST 400 Metres Women - Round 1 Archived 2015-12-10 at the Wayback Machine, Daegu 2011 (27 August 2011)
  5. Romanization of Russian differs from Romanization of Ukrainian
  6. Russia dominates on day of upsets in Bergen - European Team Champs Day 2, International Association of Athletics Federations (June 21, 2010)
  7. (in Ukrainian) Єлизавета Бризгіна: Головне — не участь, а перемога, Ukrayina Moloda (July 23, 2010)
  8. Chris Tomlinson secures European long jump bronze, BBC (August 1, 2010)
  9. Lewis-Francis accepts blame for 4x100m relay disaster, BBC (July 31, 2010)
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