Nataliya Pyhyda (; born 30 January 1981) is a Ukrainian

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 ...

sprinter who specializes in the

200 Year 200 ( CC) was a leap year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Severus and Victorinus (or, less frequently, year 953 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 200 for this y ...

and

400 metres The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor running track, it is ...

. Her personal best times are 22.82 seconds (2008) and 50.62 seconds (2015), respectively.

Career

As a junior, she finished sixth at the 2000 World Junior Championships. Her personal best at the time was 52.87 seconds, achieved in August 2000 in

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

. She improved it to 52.76 seconds in July 2003 in Kyiv. At the 2003 World Championships she competed in the 4 × 400 metres relay without reaching the final. She finished fifth in the 200 metres event at the 2004 World Indoor Championships. At the

2004 Olympic Games The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

she again competed in the 4 × 400 metres relay without reaching the final. In 2004, she greatly improved her personal bests in both her events, running the 200 metres in 23.04 seconds in July in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

and the 400 metres in 51.44 seconds in July in

Yalta Yalta (: ) is a resort town, resort city on the south coast of the Crimean Peninsula surrounded by the Black Sea. It serves as the administrative center of Yalta Municipality, one of the regions within Crimea. Yalta, along with the rest of Crime ...

. The seasons 2005 and 2006 went by without personal bests in her main events, only the

60 metres 60 metres, or 60-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field. It is a championship event for indoor championships, normally dominated by the best outdoor 100 metres runners. At indoor events, the 60 metres is run on lanes set out in the mi ...

(7.25 seconds, Kyiv, February 2005) and the

100 metres The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been contested at ...

(11.50 seconds, Kyiv, July 2005). At the 2005 European Indoor Championships the Ukrainian relay team finished fourth. She also finished fifth in the individual event. The relay team finished fifth at the 2005 World Championships. At the

2005 Summer Universiade The 2005 Summer Universiade, also known as the XXIII Summer Universiade, took place in İzmir, Turkey, in August. Emblem The emblem is the letter "U", inspired by the bird's-eye view of the Gulf of İzmir. This shape has perfectly fit the letter ...

she finished fourth in the 200 metres and won a bronze medal in the relay. At the 2006 European Championships she reached the semi-final of the individual event, and finished sixth in the relay. At the end of the season she was chosen for Europe's relay team at the

2006 IAAF World Cup The 10th IAAF World Cup in Athletics was an international track and field sporting event, held under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, which took place on 16 and 17 September 2006 at the Olympic Stadium in At ...

. The team finished fourth. In 2007, she failed to run a single sub-24 or sub-52 second race. She failed to reach the relay final at the 2007 World Championships, but won a relay gold medal at the

2007 Summer Universiade The 2007 Summer Universiade officially known as the XXIV Summer Universiade and commonly known as Bangkok Universiade, was an international multi-sport for university athletes that took place from 8 to 18 August 2007 in Bangkok, Thailand, with pr ...

. She reached the 400 metres semi-final at the 2008 World Indoor Championships, and at the 2008 Olympics she reached the semi-final of the

200 metres The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400-metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slight ...

, was disqualified in the

4 × 100 metres relay The 4 × 100 metres relay or sprint relay is an athletics track event run in lanes over one lap of the track with four runners completing 100 metres each. The first runners must begin in the same stagger as for the indiv ...

, and failed to reach the final in the

4 × 400 metres relay The 4 × 400 metres relay or long relay is an athletics track and field, track event in which teams consist of four runners who each complete 400 metres or one lap, totaling 1600 meters. It is traditionally the final event of ...

. In the summer of 2008 she had smashed her 200 best time, running in 22.82 seconds in Kyiv in June. In 2009, she won the silver medal at the 2009 European Indoor Championships. With 51.44 seconds she equalled her personal best time from the outdoor track. She further improved to 51.38 seconds in June 2009 in

Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...

. In July 2009, however, she tested positive for the anabolic steroid

stanozolol Stanozolol (Abbreviation, abbrev. Stz), sold under many brand names, is a synthetic androgen and anabolic steroid (AAS) medication derived from dihydrotestosterone (DHT). It is used to treat hereditary angioedema. It was developed by American ph ...

after a competition in

Reims Reims ( ; ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French Departments of France, department of Marne (department), Marne, and the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 12th most populous city in Fran ...

. She was suspended from the sport from August 2009 to August 2011. She competed again at the 2012 Summer Olympics. She was part of the Ukrainian team that won the silver medal at the 2014 European Athletics Championship.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pyhyda, Nataliia 1981 births Living people People from Nova Kakhovka Ukrainian female sprinters Olympic athletes for Ukraine Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics European Athletics Championships medalists World Athletics Championships athletes for Ukraine Doping cases in athletics Ukrainian sportspeople in doping cases Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) FISU World University Games gold medalists for Ukraine FISU World University Games bronze medalists for Ukraine Olympic bronze medalists for Ukraine Medalists at the 2005 Summer Universiade Medalists at the 2007 Summer Universiade Olympic female sprinters Sportspeople from Kherson Oblast Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists in athletics (track and field) Military World Games silver medalists for Ukraine Military World Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Military World Games bronze medalists for Ukraine 21st-century Ukrainian sportswomen