Lyubov Kremlyova (; born 21 December 1961) is a Russian former middle- and

long-distance runner Long-distance running, or endurance running, is a form of continuous running over distances of at least . Physiologically, it is largely Aerobic exercise, aerobic in nature and requires stamina as well as mental strength. Within endurance ru ...

who competed internationally both for the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and Russia. She had her greatest success indoors, winning medals at the

1991 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 3rd IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics were held at the Palacio Municipal de Deportes San Pablo in Seville, Spain from March 8 to March 10, 1991. It was the first Indoor Championships to include relay races as well as women's triple ...

and

1992 European Athletics Indoor Championships The 1992 European Athletics Indoor Championships were held in 1992 in Genoa, Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a pen ...

. She was stripped of a second World Indoor medal in 1995 after a positive test for steroids. Kremlyova appeared three times at the

European Athletics Championships The European Athletics Championships is a biennial (from 2010) athletics event organised by the European Athletic Association and is recognised as the elite continental outdoor athletics championships for Europe. Editions First held, for me ...

and placed fourth in both 1990 and 1994. At the

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by top-division European clubs. The competition begins with a round robi ...

she was a three-time medallist, including a win in 1994. After her doping ban she ran as a

pacemaker A pacemaker, also known as an artificial cardiac pacemaker, is an implanted medical device that generates electrical pulses delivered by electrodes to one or more of the chambers of the heart. Each pulse causes the targeted chamber(s) to co ...

and competitively in

road races Road racing is a North American term to describe motorsport racing held on a paved road surface. The races can be held on a closed circuit—generally, a purpose-built racing facility—or on a street circuit that uses temporarily closed public ...

. She continued to race into her forties and set a masters world record for women over-40 in the 3000 m. She was a two-time Soviet indoor champion and a one-time Russian indoor champion. Her personal bests included 3:58.71 minutes for the

1500 metres The 1500 metres or 1500-metre run is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athletics since 1983. It is equivalent to 1.5 kilomet ...

and 8:46.94 minutes for the

3000 metres The 3000 metres or 3000-metre run is a track running event, also commonly known as the "3K" or "3K run", where 7.5 laps are run around an outdoor 400 m track, or 15 laps around a 200 m indoor track. It is debated whether the 3000 m sho ...

Career

Early career

Born in the

Russian SSR Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

, Kremylova spent the majority of her twenties as one of the Soviet Union's second string of

runners. Given the high standard of this event nationally, she regularly placed within the top twenty fastest of her discipline for those seasons, reaching a high of fifth in the 1986 season with a personal best of 4:01.57 minutes.Lyubov Kremlyova
Track and Field Brinkster. Retrieved on 2015-07-20. At the

Soviet Athletics Championships The Soviet Athletics Championships () was an annual outdoor track and field competition organised by the Soviet Athletics Federation, which served as the Soviet national championship for the sport. The early history of event traces back to two e ...

, she was third in 1989 and runner-up in 1990.Lyubov Kremlyova

Association of Road Racing Statisticians The Association of Road Racing Statisticians is an independent, non-profit organization that collects, analyzes, and publishes statistics regarding road running races. The primary purpose of the ARRS is to maintain a valid list of world road record ...

. Retrieved on 2015-07-20.

Indoor medals

She had her first title at national level came at the

Soviet Indoor Athletics Championships The Soviet Indoor Athletics Championships () was an annual indoor track and field competition organised by the Soviet Athletics Federation, which served as the Soviet national championship for the sport. Typically held over two to three days in Fe ...

in 1990, when she was the

champion.Soviet Indoor Championships
GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2015-07-20. In her international debut she finished fourth in the 3000 m at the

1990 European Athletics Championships The 15th European Athletics Championships were held from 26 August to 2 September 1990 in Split, Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia. The host stadium was Stadion Poljud. It was the last participation of East Germany (which was already scheduled to be merged ...

, less than a second behind bronze medallist

Roberta Brunet Roberta Brunet (born 20 May 1965 in Aosta) is a former middle distance runner from Italy Biography Roberta Brunet won four medals, at individual level, at the International athletics competitions. She participated at four editions of the Summer O ...

. She ranked eleventh on time for that event in 1990 and also ranked sixth in the 1500 m. She continued to focus on the 3000 m the following year and a defence of her Soviet indoor title brought her selection for the

. This led to her first international medal – a bronze close behind Romania's Margareta Keszeg. Her time of 8:51.90 minutes placed her as the third fastest in the world indoors that year, after Keszeg and the world indoor champion Marie-Pierre Duros.World Top Performers 1980-2006: Women (Indoor)
GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2015-07-20. Outdoors she was third at the 1991 European Cup, again beaten by Keszeg and also Germany's

Uta Pippig Uta Pippig (born 7 September 1965) is a retired German long-distance runner, and the first woman to officially win the Boston Marathon three consecutive times (1994–1996). She also won the Berlin Marathon three times (1990, 1992 and 1995); the ...

.European Cup A Final and Super League (Women)
GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2015-07-20. After the 1991 season Kremlyova returned to the shorter middle-distance events. She continued to prove an adept indoor runner at the

, claiming a silver medal in the 1500 m and losing to fellow former Soviet

Yekaterina Podkopayeva Yekaterina Ilyinychna Podkopayeva (; born 11 June 1952 in Moscow) is a retired middle-distance runner who represented the USSR and later Russia. She gained international recognition in 1983, when she won two bronze medals at the World Championships ...

by a margin of one hundredth of a second. Although she did not compete at the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics (, ), officially the Games of the XXV Olympiad (, ) and officially branded as Barcelona '92, were an international multi-sport event held from 25 July to 9 August 1992 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Beginning in 1994 ...

, she was one of the most dominant athletes on the

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

circuit, coming a close second to Lyudmila Rogachova at the 1992 IAAF Grand Prix Final and ranking second on points in the 1500 m for the season.IAAF Grand Prix
GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2015-07-20. Her best performance that year was a win at the

Weltklasse Zürich Weltklasse Zürich () is an annual, invitation-only, world-class track and field meeting at the Letzigrund in Zürich, Switzerland, generally held at the end of August or beginning of September. Previously one of the IAAF Golden League events, it ...

, where she won the 1500 m in a time of 3.58.71 minutes. This was a career best and her only sub-four minutes run for the distance. She also set a meeting record of 8:46.99 minutes for the 3000 m at the

KBC Night of Athletics The KBC Night of Athletics () is an annual athletics event at the Stadium De Veen in Heusden-Zolder, Belgium. It is officially presented and sponsored by the KBC Bank KBC Group N.V. is a Belgian universal multi-channel bank-insurer, focusing ...

– a record which would last over two decades. Kremlyova focused on the outdoor track in 1993 and managed second place over

800 metres The 800 metres, or 800 meters (American and British English spelling differences#-re.2C -er, US spelling), is a common track running event. It is the shortest commonly run middle-distance running event. The 800 metres is run over two laps of a ...

at the 1993 European Cup (behind Romania's

Ella Kovacs Ella Kovacs (born 11 December 1964) is a retired Romanian middle-distance runner of Hungary, Hungarian descent who specialized in the 800 metres.mile run The mile run (1,760 yards, 5,280 Foot (unit), feet, or exactly 1,609.344 metres) is a middle-distance running, middle-distance foot race. The history of the mile run event began in England, where it was used as a distance for gambling ...

at the

1993 IAAF Grand Prix Final The 1993 IAAF Grand Prix Final was the ninth edition of the season-ending competition for the IAAF Grand Prix track and field circuit, organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations. It was held on 10 September at the Crystal ...

, preventing Sonia O'Sullivan from taking a double. Although she was selected for the

1993 World Championships in Athletics The 4th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held in the Neckarstadium, Stuttgart, Germany between 13 and 22 August with the participation of 187 nations. Having or ...

, ultimately she did not compete.Lyubov Kremlyova
IAAF. Retrieved on 2015-07-20. She topped the 1500 m podium at the 1994 European Cup, holding off

Kelly Holmes Dame Kelly Holmes (born 19 April 1970) is a retired British Middle-distance running, middle distance Track and field, athlete and television personality. Holmes specialised in the 800 metres, 800 and 1500 metres events and won gold medals for ...

. She was the second fastest qualifier at the

1994 European Athletics Championships The 16th European Athletics Championships were held from 7 August to 14 August 1994 in the Olympic Stadium of Helsinki, Finland. Men's results Complete results were published. Track 1986 , 1990 , 1994 , 1998 , 2002 , Field 1986 , 1990 , 19 ...

, but the final was more tactical and she could only place fourth behind Holmes and her Russian teammates Rogachova and Podkopayeva. Her fastest run that year came on the circuit at the

Herculis The Herculis is an annual track and field meet at Stade Louis II in Fontvieille, Monaco. Previously one of the five IAAF Super Grand Prix events. Herculis is now part of the Diamond League. Editions World records Over the course of its histo ...

meeting, where she finished in 4:01.05 minutes as runner-up to Podkopayeva. This put her fourth on the seasonal rankings. Kremlyova started the 1995 indoor season in top form with a world-leading time of 4:10.41 minutes for the 1500 m. In

Erfurt Erfurt () is the capital (political), capital and largest city of the Central Germany (cultural area), Central German state of Thuringia, with a population of around 216,000. It lies in the wide valley of the Gera (river), River Gera, in the so ...

in February she ran the second fastest ever

1000 metres The 1000 metres, 1 kilometer run, or 1K run is an uncommon middle-distance running event in track and field competitions. It consists of two and a half laps around an outdoor 400 m track, or five laps around an indoor 200 m track. The 1000 ...

indoors (behind only

Inna Yevseyeva Inna Yevseyeva (; born 14 August 1964) is a retired middle-distance athlete who specialised in the 800 metres. She was born in Zhytomyr, Ukrainian SSR and represented the Soviet Union in the 1980s and the early 1990s, and then Ukraine. A two-time ...

), However, she failed a drugs test for steroids at the meeting. While her sample was still subject to further analysis she was allowed to compete. At the

1995 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 5th IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics were held at the Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North A ...

she repeated her feat of four years earlier with a 1500 m bronze medal performance. Her "B" sample from Erfurt soon came positive, however, and she was banned for three and a half years and all her results from February onwards were annulled, leaving

Maite Zúñiga María Teresa "Maite" Zúñiga Domínguez (born 28 December 1964 in Eibar) is a retired Basque Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, s ...

as the retrospective world indoor bronze medallist.

Masters career

Kremlyova returned to competition in June 1998 and, moving up to the

5000 metres The 5000 metres or 5000-metre run is a common long-distance running event in track and field, approximately equivalent to or . It is one of the track events in the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics, run over laps of a sta ...

, showed she was still a force in the sport with a bronze medal at the

Goodwill Games The Goodwill Games were an international sports competition created by Ted Turner in reaction to the political troubles surrounding the Olympic Games of the 1980s. In 1979, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan caused the United States and other ...

at the age of 36. She was running in the first age-group category for

masters athletics Masters Athletics managed by World Masters Athletics is a class of the sport of athletics (sport), athletics for athletes of 35 years of age and over organized by World Masters Athletics. The events include track and field, road running and cross ...

. She was runner-up in the 3000 m at the 1999 Russian Indoor Athletics Championships, then represented her country in

ekiden is a long-distance running multi-stage relay race, mostly held on Road running, roads.Otake, Tomoko. ''One for All.'' Dec. 28, 200The Japan Times accessed Feb. 19, 2009. The original Japanese term had nothing to do with a sport or a competiti ...

races in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

and

Yokohama is the List of cities in Japan, second-largest city in Japan by population as well as by area, and the country's most populous Municipalities of Japan, municipality. It is the capital and most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a popu ...

. She found herself the role of

on the

IAAF Golden League The IAAF Golden League was an annual series of outdoor track and field meetings organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). Athletes who won specific events at all of the series meetings were awarded a jackpot prize ...

circuit in 1999 and 2000, but still competed individually at national level during that period, including her first Russian title in the indoor 3000 m. Her final two international appearances for Russia were at the 2000

International Chiba Ekiden The International Chiba Ekiden was an annual team road running competition held in Chiba, Japan in late November. The marathon relay race, or ekiden as it is known in Japan, is one of the prominent annual races of its kind. The competition is s ...

and the 2001 Yokohama Ekiden. She continued to run competitively into her forties, with a particular focus on American

road running Road running is the sport of running on a measured course over an established road. This differs from track and field on a regular track and cross country running over natural terrain. These events are usually classified as long-distance ru ...

competitions. Highlights included fourth-place finishes at the World's Best 10K and Cooper River Bridge Run in 2003 and two wins at the Reedy River Run. Into 2006 and 2007, as she passed her mid-forties, she still ranked within the top ten of major races such as the Cooper River Bridge Run, Azalea Trail Run and the Crescent City Classic. She also continued running in track races and in 2002 ran a world record for over-40 athletes in the 3000 m with a time of 9:02.83 minutes indoors.3000 m Indoor Track Rankings for Ages 40-44
ARRS (2015-03-05). Retrieved on 2015-07-20.

Personal bests

;Outdoor *

– 1:59.1 min (1986) *

– 2:33.55 min (1993) *

– 3:58.71 min (1992) *

Mile run The mile run (1,760 yards, 5,280 Foot (unit), feet, or exactly 1,609.344 metres) is a middle-distance running, middle-distance foot race. The history of the mile run event began in England, where it was used as a distance for gambling ...

– 4:22.46 min (1993) *

– 8:46.94 min (1990) *

– 15:36.58 min (1998) *

10K run The 10K run is a long-distance road running competition over a distance of . Also referred to as the 10K road race, 10 km, or simply 10K, it is one of the most common types of road running event, alongside the shorter 5K and longer half ...

– 32:57 min (1998) * 12-kilometre run – 40:24 min (2001) ;Indoor *

– 2:34.84 min (1993) *

– 4:07.37 min (2000) *

– 4:29.72 min (2003) *

2000 metres The 2000 metres or 2000-metre run is a track running event where five laps are completed around an outdoor 400 m track, or ten laps around a 200 m indoor track - the distance is 11.68 meters short of 1¼ miles. The global governing body World At ...

– 5:48.51 min (2003) *

– 8:51.40 min (2000) All information from IAAF and ARRS

National titles

**3000 m: 1990, 1991 * Russian Indoor Athletics Championships **3000 m: 2000

International competitions

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kremlyova, Lyubov Living people 1961 births Russian female long-distance runners Russian female middle-distance runners Soviet female long-distance runners Soviet female middle-distance runners Russian sportspeople in doping cases Soviet sportspeople in doping cases Doping cases in athletics Goodwill Games medalists in athletics Competitors at the 1998 Goodwill Games 20th-century Russian sportswomen