Lidiya Pavlovna Skoblikova (; born 8 March 1939) is a retired Russian

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

and coach. She represented the USSR Olympic team during the

Winter Olympic Games The Winter Olympic Games (), also known as the Winter Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were held in ...

in 1960, 1964 and 1968, and won a total of six gold medals, a record she shares with Dutch speed skater

Ireen Wüst Irene Karlijn "Ireen" Wüst (; born 1 April 1986) is a Dutch former long track speed skater. Wüst became the most successful speed skating Olympian ever by achieving at least one gold medal in each of five consecutive Winter Olympic appearan ...

. She also won 25 gold medals at the world championships and 15 gold medals at the

USSR 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 ...

National Championships in several distances. She was also the first athlete to earn six gold medals in the Winter Olympics and the first to earn four gold medals at a single Olympic Winter Games. She was the most successful athlete at the

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Janu ...

and

1964 Winter Olympics The 1964 Winter Olympics, officially known as the IX Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Innsbruck 1964 (), were a winter multi-sport event which was celebrated in Innsbruck, Austria, from January 29 to February 9, 1964. The city was a ...

, sharing the honour for 1960 Games with her compatriot Yevgeny Grishin.

Career

Skoblikova was born in

Zlatoust Zlatoust (; ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia, located on the Ay River (in the Kama River, Kama drainage basin, basin), west of Chelyabinsk. Population: 181,000 (1971); 161,000 (1959); 99,000 ...

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 ...

, some 160 km west of

Chelyabinsk Chelyabinsk; , is the administrative center and largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia. It is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, seventh-largest city in Russia, with a population ...

, Ural. She trained at Burevestnik and later at Lokomotiv sports societies. At age 19 in 1959, Skoblikova qualified for the Soviet team and placed third in the national championships. She repeated that performance at the world championships, winning two distance medals as well. The next season, she seemed headed for the world title after winning the 500 m and placing 2nd in the 1500 m, but she fell in the 1000 m. By winning the 3000 m, she managed to land on the podium anyway, placing third again. A favourite for the Olympics now, she entered three events. In the first race, the 1500 m, she broke the world record, and won the gold medal. After just missing a second medal in the 1000 m (fourth), Skoblikova approached the world record in the 3000 m (missing it by just half a second), but that was enough for her second gold medal. During the following years, Skoblikova fought with her teammates to become world champion. In 1961, she won the bronze for the third consecutive time, followed by the silver medal in 1962. In 1963, she finally won the title. In Karuizawa, conditions were excellent, and Skoblikova won all four races, setting a new 1000 m world record in the process. For the 1964 Olympics, Skoblikova qualified for all four distances, and she won all of them, thereby becoming the first Winter Olympian to win four individual gold medals. This record was only beaten by

Eric Heiden Eric Arthur Heiden (born June 14, 1958) is an American physician and a former long track speed skater, road cyclist and track cyclist. He won an unprecedented five individual gold medals, and set four Olympic records and one world record at th ...

who won all five speed skating events in

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Sys ...

. Two weeks after the Olympics, she repeated her performance from Karuizawa and won all four distances at the world championships. Skoblikova withdrew from speed skating for two seasons, but returned in 1967, setting a new 3000 m world record in January. She failed to reach the podium at the world championships however, and placed fourth. In 1968, she skated her third and last Olympics, with the best achievement of 6th place in the 3000 m. During her career she won 15 national titles in various distances, but never the all-around championships. After her retirement in 1969, Skoblikova moved to Moscow to work as a speed skating coach at Lokomotiv. In 1973, she began her studies at The Academy of Labor and Social Relations and received a degree in

pedagogy Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political, and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken ...

in 1979. She later earned a PhD in history and became a professor.Лидия Скобликова: «Так и живу»
Спорт-Регион (2010) By 1983, she was a member of the Soviet National Olympic Committee, and received a silver Olympic Order from the hands of

Juan Antonio Samaranch Juan Antonio Samaranch y Torelló, 1st Marquess of Samaranch ( Catalan: ''Joan Antoni Samaranch i Torelló'', ; 17 July 1920 – 21 April 2010) was a Spanish sports administrator under the Franco regime (1973–1977) who served as the seventh ...

. For 12 years she was president of the Russian Skating Federation, and in the 1990s was the head coach of the Russian team. In 1996, she was inducted into the International Women's Sports Hall of Fame, and three years later received the

Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" The Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" () is a state decoration of the Russian Federation. It was instituted on 2 March 1994 by Presidential Decree 442. Until the re-establishment of the Order of St. Andrew in 1998, it was the highest order of ...

from the hands of

Boris Yeltsin Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin (1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician and statesman who served as President of Russia from 1991 to 1999. He was a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) from 1961 to ...

.ПРЕЗИДЕНТ РОССИИ НАГРАДИЛ Лидию СКОБЛИКОВУ
sport-express.ru (1999-05-07) On February 7, 2014, she was one of the six people who held the Olympic flag during the opening ceremony of the

2014 Winter Olympics The 2014 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXII Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Sochi 2014 (), were an international winter multi-sport event that was held from 7 to 23 February 2014 in Sochi, Russia. Opening ro ...

in Sochi.

Family

Skoblikova was born in a working-class family and had three sisters and one brother. She married Aleksandr Polozkov, who was a competitive

racewalker Race walking, or racewalking, is a long-distance discipline within the sport of athletics. Although a foot race, it is different from running in that one foot must appear to be in contact with the ground at all times. Race judges carefully asses ...

and a member of the national team. Aleksandr was a talented coach and trained his wife during some periods of her career. Their son Georgy (b. 14 March 1965) assisted Skoblikova as a coach of the national speed skating team in the 1990s. His first wife, Natalya Polozkova, was also a speed skater and competed at the 1992, 1994 and 1998 Winter Olympics,Lidiya Skoblikova

Sports-Reference.com Sports Reference, LLC is an American sports statistics company that operates databases of several sports. They include Pro Football Reference for American football, Baseball Reference for baseball, Basketball Reference for basketball, Hockey Ref ...

whereas his second wife, Tanya, won four national titles.Конек королевы
Interview in Russian at rg.ru (2006-04-14).

Records

References

External links

*
Legends of Soviet Sport: Lidia Skoblikova

Lidia Skoblikova at Olympic.org

''Women's Sports Foundation''. Retrieved on 2007-08-27. {{DEFAULTSORT:Skoblikova, Lidiya 1939 births 20th-century Russian sportswomen Living people Sportspeople from Zlatoust Communist Party of the Soviet Union members Burevestnik (sports society) sportspeople Medalists at the 1960 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1964 Winter Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the Soviet Union Olympic medalists in speed skating Olympic speed skaters for the Soviet Union Speed skaters at the 1960 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 1964 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 1968 Winter Olympics Honoured Masters of Sport of the USSR Recipients of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 3rd class Recipients of the Order of Alexander Nevsky (Russian Federation) Recipients of the Order of the Badge of Honour Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Russian female speed skaters Soviet female speed skaters Speed skating coaches World Allround Speed Skating Championships medalists World record setters in speed skating

Career

Family

Records

See also

References

External links