Klavdiya Yakovlevna Mayuchaya (née ''Lapteva''; russian: Клавдия Яковлевна Маючая (Лаптева); 15 May 1918 – 14 October 1989) was a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

athlete who competed mainly in the

javelin throw The javelin throw is a track and field event where the javelin, a spear about in length, is thrown. The javelin thrower gains momentum by running within a predetermined area. Javelin throwing is an event of both the men's decathlon and the ...

. She was the gold medallist in the event at the European Athletics Championships in 1946 and was the first woman to throw the javelin beyond fifty metres. She was a nine-time Soviet champion across the javelin, discus throw and grenade throw disciplines.

Career

Early career

Mayuchaya joined the Burevestnik sports club in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

in 1936 and practised throwing there until in 1945, when she changed to the Dynamo Sports Club and worked with coach Dmitry Markov until the end of her career.Mayuchaya, Claudia Y. – Dynamo. Encyclopedia
Compilers Chernevich GL, schoolchildren EA. 2nd ed. M. "OLMA-Press", 2003, pp. 184. . Initially a shot putter, she soon focused more on the

. Her throw of in 1938 ranked her in the top ten in the world that year and she won her first national title in the discipline at that year's

Soviet Athletics Championships The Soviet Athletics Championships (russian: link=no, Чемпионат СССР по лёгкой атлетике) was an annual outdoor track and field competition organised by the Soviet Athletics Federation, which served as the Soviet natio ...

. The following year she defended that title and also improved her best to – a mark only bettered by Olympic medallist

Luise Krüger Luise Krüger (January 11, 1915 – June 13, 2001) was a female, German athlete, who competed mainly in the javelin. She won the bronze medal for her native country at the 1934 Women's World Games in London and the silver medal at the ...

that season. After dropping down the rankings from 1940 to 1942, she returned to the high level of the sport with a throw of (fourth in the seasonal rankings) and a third Soviet javelin title. In 1944 she was again ranked fourth internationally and won another national title. She edged close to her best in the 1945 with a throw of , which was the second best that season after national rival Lyudmila Anokina. She also had her best season in the discus throw that year, with her mark of being a lifetime best and second in the international rankings behind

Nina Dumbadze Nina Yakovlevna Dumbadze ( ka, ნინო დუმბაძე; 23 May 1919 – 14 April 1983) was a discus thrower who represented the Soviet Union. She won the European title in 1946 and 1950, and a bronze medal at the 1952 Olympics. Dumbad ...

. At the national championships, she was third in the javelin but won her first discus national title.

European champion and unofficial world record

Mayuchaya won her first and only major international title in the 1946 season. She was the foremost javelin athlete that season through her new best of set that July. At the

1946 European Athletics Championships The 3rd European Athletics Championships were held from 22 August to 25 August 1946 in the Bislett Stadion in Oslo, Norway. For the first time it was a combined event for men and women, and for the first time a city in Scandinavia hosted the champ ...

she threw a

championship record The sports under the umbrella of athletics, particularly track and field, use a variety of statistics. In order to report that information efficiently, numerous abbreviations have grown to be common in the sport. Starting in 1948 by Bert Nelson a ...

of to claim the gold medal ahead of fellow Soviet Lyudmila Anokina. She was part of a Soviet medal sweep of the women's throws, alongside Tatyana Sevryokova and Nina Dumbadze. At the Soviet Championships she won both the javelin and grenade throw events. Her physical peak came in September 1947, when she throw a lifetime best of for the javelin. This made her the first woman ever to throw the implement beyond fifty metres, although it was not officially recognised as the women's javelin throw world record due to the Soviet Union not being a registered member of the International Amateur Athletics Federation. It was not until 1949 that the official world record was brought beyond fifty metres; Natalya Smirnitskaya achieved that feat with a throw of . She won her sixth and final javelin title at the 1947 Soviet Championships, which was also the last of her nine national titles across the throws.

Final years

After 1947, the standard of women's throwing in the Soviet Union increased and Mayuchaya faced competition from Smirnitskaya,

Galina Zybina Galina Ivanovna Zybina (russian: Гали́на Ива́новна Зы́бина, born 22 January 1931) is a retired Soviet and Russian athlete and coach. She competed in the shot put at the 1952, 1956, 1960 and 1964 Olympics and finished in fir ...

and

Aleksandra Chudina Aleksandra Georgievna Chudina (russian: Александра Георгиевна Чудина; 6 November 1923 – 28 October 1990) was a Soviet athlete who excelled in field hockey, volleyball, and various track and field events. Field hockey ...

, among others. She still regularly ranked within the world's top ten from 1948 to 1953.Main > Women, Javelin Throw > 1949–1952
Track and Field Brinkster. Retrieved on 28 December 2015. The last national podium finish of her career came in 1952, when she was runner-up to Zybina in the javelin. She came close to clearing fifty metres again that season, with a throw of . In her last season of competition in 1954, at the age of 36, she threw and ranked 16th in the world.

Personal bests

Javelin throw The javelin throw is a track and field event where the javelin, a spear about in length, is thrown. The javelin thrower gains momentum by running within a predetermined area. Javelin throwing is an event of both the men's decathlon and the ...

: (1947)Klavdiya Mayuchaya
Track and Field Brinkster. Retrieved on 28 December 2015. * Discus throw: (1945) *

Shot put The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. The shot put competition for men has been a part of the modern Olympics since their revival in 1896, and women's ...

: (1937)

National titles

: 1938, 1939, 1943, 1944, 1946, 1947 ** Discus throw: 1945 **

Grenade throw A grenade is an explosive weapon typically thrown by hand (also called hand grenade), but can also refer to a shell (explosive projectile) shot from the muzzle of a rifle (as a rifle grenade) or a grenade launcher. A modern hand grenade genera ...

: 1938, 1946

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mayuchaya, Klavdiya 1918 births 1989 deaths Sportspeople from Saransk Soviet female javelin throwers Soviet female discus throwers European Athletics Championships medalists