Nadiya Volodymyrivna Tkachenko ( uk, Надія Володимирівна Ткаченко) or Nadezhda Vladimirovna Tkachenko (russian: Надежда Владимировна Ткаченко) (born 19 September 1948) is a Ukrainian former pentathlete who won gold at the 1980 Olympics. She was born in Kremenchuk, then in the Ukrainian SSR in the Soviet Union, and took up pentathlon aged 18 training at the Vanguard Voluntary Sports Societies of the Soviet Union in

Donetsk Oblast The Donetsk Oblast ( ukr, Донецька область, Donetska oblast, ), also referred to as Donechchyna ( ukr, Донеччина, links=no), is an oblast of eastern Ukraine. It is Ukraine's most populous province, with around 4.1 mill ...

. She came second in pentathlon in the Soviet championships of 1971 and 1972, and competed three times for the Soviet Union at the Olympics. She set her first world record (4839 points) winning the 1977

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

. She won the 1974 European title, but was stripped of the 1978 title after testing positive for

anabolic steroids Anabolic steroids, also known more properly as anabolic–androgenic steroids (AAS), are steroidal androgens that include natural androgens like testosterone as well as synthetic androgens that are structurally related and have similar effects t ...

and given an 18-month ban. In May 1980, just after the ban, she scored 4880 points, which was not ratified as a record because the races were hand timed. In July she won the 1980 Olympic title with 5083 points, becoming the only woman ever to break 5000 points outdoors, with the final world record before the event was replaced in 1981 by the

heptathlon A heptathlon is a track and field combined events contest made up of seven events. The name derives from the Greek επτά (hepta, meaning "seven") and ἄθλος (áthlos, or ἄθλον, áthlon, meaning "competition"). A competitor in a hept ...

. The Soviet government awarded her the Order of the Red Banner of Labour and the title Honored Master of Sports of the USSR. Since retiring from competition she has worked as a youth sports coach in Donetsk, of which she was named an honorary citizen in 2005. A youth athletics competition in the city is named after her.

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References

1948 births Living people People from Kremenchuk Soviet pentathletes Soviet female athletes Ukrainian female athletes Olympic athletes of the Soviet Union Olympic gold medalists for the Soviet Union Athletes (track and field) at the 1972 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1976 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1980 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1980 Summer Olympics European Athletics Championships medalists Ukrainian sportspeople in doping cases Soviet sportspeople in doping cases Doping cases in athletics Honoured Masters of Sport of the USSR Ukrainian pentathletes Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) Universiade gold medalists for the Soviet Union Medalists at the 1973 Summer Universiade Sportspeople from Poltava Oblast {{USSR-athletics-Olympic-medalist-stub