Marina Ivanovna Stepanova (née Makeyeva () born 1 May 1950) is a Russian former athlete who competed 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 ...

in the

400 metres hurdles The 400 metres hurdles is a track and field hurdling event. The event has been on the Summer Olympics, Olympic Sport of athletics, athletics programme since 1900 Summer Olympics, 1900 for men and since 1984 Summer Olympics, 1984 for women. On a ...

, and became the first woman to run under 53 seconds for the event, when she ran 52.94 secs in 1986.

Career

Born in Meglevo, Imeni Sverdlova settlement, Stepanova started to compete internationally in 1978 at the

European Championships A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

in Prague where she finished sixth in her semifinal heat. That year she had a PB of 56.19 seconds in the 400m hurdles. In 1979, she broke the

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organizatio ...

for the first time, running 54.78 seconds at the Soviet Spartakiad, defeating previous world record holder Tatyana Zelentsova. Stepanova retired at the end of the 1980 season and gave birth to a daughter in 1981. She returned in 1983 and quickly regained her form. Unable to attend the

1984 Olympic Games The 1984 Olympics may refer to: *The 1984 Winter Olympics, which were held in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia *The 1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and commonly known as Los Angeles 1984) were an i ...

due to the Soviet-led boycott, she did improve her personal best to 53.67 seconds when winning at the 1984

Friendship Games The 1984 Friendship Games, or Friendship-84 (, ''Druzhba-84''), was an international multi-sport event held between 2 July and 16 September 1984 in the Soviet Union and eight other Eastern Bloc states which boycotted the 1984 Summer Olympics in ...

, defeating the 1983 World champion Yekaterina Fesenko and world record holder

Margarita Ponomaryova Margarita Anatolyevna Ponomaryova (; 19 June 1963 – 16 September 2021), also known as Margarita Khromova, was a hurdler from Russia, best known for setting the world record in the women's 400 metres hurdles in 1984 with 53.58 secs. Ponomaryov ...

. At the

1986 Goodwill Games The 1986 Goodwill Games was the inaugural edition of the international multi-sport event created by Ted Turner, which was held from 5 – 20 July 1986. The main stadium was the Luzhniki Stadium, Central Lenin Stadium in Moscow, Russian SFSR, Sov ...

in July, Stepanova won in 53.81 secs. A month later at the 1986 European Championships in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

, she won the gold medal in the world record time of 53.32 seconds. Three weeks later in

Tashkent Tashkent (), also known as Toshkent, is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uzbekistan, largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of more than 3 million people as of April 1, 2024. I ...

, Stepanova became the first woman in history to break 53 seconds in the 400 m hurdles, improving her world record to 52.94 seconds at the age of 36. This would remain the world record for seven years until

Sally Gunnell Sally Jane Janet Gunnell, OBE, DL (born 29 July 1966) is a British former track-and-field athlete, who won the 1992 Olympic gold medal in the 400 metres hurdles. During a 24-month period between 1992 and 1994, Gunnell won every international ...

ran 52.74 secs in 1993. After the 1987 season she retired at the age of 37.

Personal Bests

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stepanova, Marina 1950 births Living people People from Vsevolozhsky District Soviet female hurdlers Russian female hurdlers European Athletics Championships medalists World record setters in athletics (track and field) Goodwill Games medalists in athletics Competitors at the 1986 Goodwill Games Friendship Games medalists in athletics Athletes from Leningrad Oblast Soviet Athletics Championships winners 20th-century Russian sportswomen