Yolanda Chen (; born July 26, 1961, in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

) is a retired

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

n athlete. She started as a

pentathlete A pentathlon is a contest featuring five events. The name is derived from Greek language, Greek: combining the words ''pente'' (five) and -''athlon'' (competition) (). The first pentathlon was documented in Ancient Greece and was part of the Anci ...

, but decided to specialize in

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

. In 1988, she achieved a personal best of 7.16 metres, a good result, but from 1992 she switched to

triple jump The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down the tr ...

instead, a relatively new event for women. Inspired by her father Yevgeniy Chen, who was among the world elite in the 1950s, she managed to jump 13.72 metres in 1992. Her great-grandfather was

Eugene Chen Eugene Chen or Chen Youren (; 2 July 1878, San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago – 20 May 1944, Shanghai), known in his youth as Eugene Bernard Achan, was a Chinese Trinidadian lawyer who in the 1920s became Chinese foreign minister. He was known ...

. In 1993, she improved to 14.97 metres, a new outdoor record which would also remain her personal best. Her record was beaten at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

the same year by fellow Russian Anna Biryukova, who jumped 15.09m. In 1995, Chen appeared at the World Indoor Championships and won the gold medal with 15.03 metres, a new world indoor record, beating the prior record of 14.47m. She finished 11th at the

the same year. Chen married pole vaulter Yevgeniy Bondarenko. She now works as a commentator for the Russian

Eurosport Eurosport is a group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia, owned and operated by Warner Bros. Discovery through its WBD Sports unit, it operates two main channels—Eurosport 1 and Eurosport 2—across most of its territorie ...

. In 2023, she suggested postponing the

2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

to 2025 because of controversies surrounding Russia's participation.ИОЛАНДА ЧЕН ПРЕДЛОЖИЛА ГЛАВЕ МОК ПЕРЕНЕСТИ ОЛИМПИАДУ В ПАРИЖЕ НА 2025 ГОД ИЗ-ЗА СИТУАЦИИ В МИРЕ
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International competitions

References

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IAAF bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chen, Yolanda 1961 births Living people Athletes from Moscow Russian sports journalists Soviet female long jumpers Soviet female triple jumpers Russian female triple jumpers Russian female long jumpers FISU World University Games gold medalists in athletics (track and field) FISU World University Games gold medalists for the Soviet Union Medalists at the 1989 Summer Universiade World Athletics Championships athletes for Russia World Athletics Championships medalists World Athletics Indoor Championships winners Russian Athletics Championships winners Russian sportspeople of Chinese descent World record setters in athletics (track and field) 20th-century Russian sportswomen

International competitions

See also

References