Valentina Sergeyevna Stenina (russian: Валентина Серге́евна Стенина; born 29 December 1934) is a former

speed skater Speed skating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors race each other in travelling a certain distance on skates. Types of speed skating are long track speed skating, short track speed skating, and marathon speed skating. ...

who competed for the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

. Born ''Valentina Miloslavova'' in

Babruysk Babruysk, Babrujsk or Bobruisk ( be, Бабруйск , Łacinka: , rus, Бобруйск, Bobrujsk, bɐˈbruɪ̯s̪k, yi, באָברויסק ) is a city in the Mogilev Region of eastern Belarus on the Berezina River. , its population was 209 ...

(which is now part of

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

), she fled to Sverdlovsk – taken by her mother – in 1941 because of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. In Sverdlovsk, she took up speed skating, training at VSS Trud, and met and married fellow skater Boris Stenin. In 1959, Stenina participated in her first World Allround Championships, held in her home town of Sverdlovsk, and she won silver. The next year, 1960, was a very good year for Stenina: her husband Boris became Soviet Allround Champion, then Boris won silver at the European Allround Championships, then she herself became World Allround Champion, then Boris became World Allround Champion, and then at the

1960 Winter Olympics The 1960 Winter Olympics (officially the VIII Olympic Winter Games and also known as Squaw Valley 1960) were a winter multi-sport event held from February 18 to 28, 1960, at the Squaw Valley Resort (now known as Palisades Tahoe) in Squaw Vall ...

of Squaw Valley, she won silver on the 3,000 m behind

Lidia Skoblikova Lidiya Pavlovna Skoblikova (russian: Лидия Павловна Скобликова; born 8 March 1939) is a retired Russian speed skater and coach. She represented the USSR Olympic team during the Olympic Winter Games in 1960, 1964 and 1968, ...

, while Boris won bronze on the 1,500 m. In addition, Boris received the

Oscar Mathisen Award Since 1959, the Oscar Mathisen Award (also known as the Oscar Mathisen Memorial Award, the Oscar Mathisen Memorial Trophy, and sometimes the Skating Oscar) is awarded annually for outstanding speed skating performance of the season. The award was in ...

that year. Valentina was not even considered for that award since women were not eligible to win it until 1987. The following year (1961), Stenina successfully defended her World Champion title in a grand way with victories in three distances and a second place in the fourth. Later that month, she won the Soviet National Championships – a title she would win a total number of four times in her career (in 1961, 1965, 1966, and 1967). Stenina did not compete in 1962 but returned in 1963, winning bronze at the World Championships. At the

1964 Winter Olympics The 1964 Winter Olympics, officially known as the IX Olympic Winter Games (german: IX. Olympische Winterspiele) and commonly known as Innsbruck 1964 ( bar, Innschbruck 1964, label=Austro-Bavarian), was a winter multi-sport event which was celebr ...

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; bar, Innschbruck, label=Austro-Bavarian ) is the capital of Tyrol and the fifth-largest city in Austria. On the River Inn, at its junction with the Wipp Valley, which provides access to the Brenner Pass to the south, it had a p ...

, she won another silver medal on the 3,000 m, again behind Skoblikova. Another silver medal at the World Championships would follow in 1965 and she became World Champion for the third and final time in 1966, this time not winning any of the four distances. For her accomplishments, Stenina was awarded the title of ''Honorable Citizen of Sverdlovsk'' in 1967 – the year she won her third consecutive (and fourth total) Soviet National Championships title. In 1968, she ended her career as a speed skater. Stenina currently lives in

Yekaterinburg Yekaterinburg ( ; rus, Екатеринбург, p=jɪkətʲɪrʲɪnˈburk), alternatively romanized as Ekaterinburg and formerly known as Sverdlovsk ( rus, Свердло́вск, , svʲɪrˈdlofsk, 1924–1991), is a city and the administra ...

(which is the name that ''Sverdlovsk'' was changed back to in 1991). Her husband Boris died in 2001.

Medals

An overview of medals won by Stenina at important championships she participated in, listing the years in which she won each:

Personal records

To put these personal records in perspective, the ''WR'' column lists the official world records on the dates that Stenina skated her personal records.

External links

*
Valentina Stenina at SkateResults.com

Valentina Stenina
''Deutsche Eisschnelllauf Gemeinschaft e.V.'' (German Skating Association).

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20120205184935/http://www.isu.org/vsite/vfile/page/fileurl/0,11040,4844-181536-198754-94643-0-file,00.pdf Historical World Records ''International Skating Union''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Stenina, Valentina 1934 births Living people Sportspeople from Babruysk Soviet female speed skaters Olympic speed skaters for the Soviet Union Olympic silver medalists for the Soviet Union Speed skaters at the 1960 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 1964 Winter Olympics Olympic medalists in speed skating Russian people of Belarusian descent Russian female speed skaters Medalists at the 1960 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1964 Winter Olympics World Allround Speed Skating Championships medalists