Lyubov Kremlyova (russian: Любовь Кремлёва; born 21 December 1961) is a Russian former middle- and

long-distance runner Long-distance running, or endurance running, is a form of continuous running over distances of at least . Physiologically, it is largely Aerobic exercise, aerobic in nature and requires endurance, stamina as well as mental strength. Within e ...

who competed internationally both for the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

and Russia. She had her greatest success indoors, winning medals at the

1991 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 3rd IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics were held at the Palacio Municipal de Deportes San Pablo in Seville, Spain from March 8 to March 10, 1991. It was the first Indoor Championships to include relay races as well as women's triple j ...

and

1992 European Athletics Indoor Championships The 1992 European Athletics Indoor Championships were held in 1992 in Genoa, Italy. This was the first edition to be held biannually and not annually and also the first to be held over three days as opposed to two. It also marked the debut of the ...

. She was stripped of a second World Indoor medal in 1995 after a positive test for steroids. Kremlyova appeared three times at the

European Athletics Championships The European Athletics Championships is a biennial (from 2010) athletics event organised by the European Athletics Association and is recognised as the elite continental outdoor athletics championships for Europe. Editions First held, for men ...

and placed fourth in both 1990 and 1994. At the

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 was a three-time medallist, including a win in 1994. After her doping ban she ran as a

pacemaker An artificial cardiac pacemaker (or artificial pacemaker, so as not to be confused with the natural cardiac pacemaker) or pacemaker is a medical device that generates electrical impulses delivered by electrodes to the chambers of the heart eith ...

and competitively in road races. She continued to race into her forties and set a masters world record for women over-40 in the 3000 m. She was a two-time Soviet indoor champion and a one-time Russian indoor champion. Her personal bests included 3:58.71 minutes for the

1500 metres The 1500 metres or 1,500-metre run (typically pronounced 'fifteen-hundred metres') is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athletic ...

and 8:46.94 minutes for the

3000 metres The 3000 metres or 3000-metre run is a track running event, also commonly known as the "3K" or "3K run", where 7.5 laps are run around an outdoor 400 m track, or 15 laps around a 200 m indoor track. It is debated whether the 3000m shoul ...

Career

Early career

Born in the

Russian SSR Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

, Kremylova spent the majority of her twenties as one of the Soviet Union's second string of

runners. Given the high standard of this event nationally, she regularly placed within the top twenty fastest of her discipline for those seasons, reaching a high of fifth in the 1986 season with a personal best of 4:01.57 minutes.Lyubov Kremlyova
Track and Field Brinkster. Retrieved on 2015-07-20. At the

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 ...

, she was third in 1989 and runner-up in 1990.Lyubov Kremlyova

Association of Road Racing Statisticians The Association of Road Racing Statisticians is an independent, non-profit organization that collects, analyzes, and publishes statistics regarding road running races. The primary purpose of the ARRS is to maintain a valid list of world road record ...

. Retrieved on 2015-07-20.

Indoor medals

She had her first title at national level came at the Soviet Indoor Athletics Championships in 1990, when she was the

champion.Soviet Indoor Championships
GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2015-07-20. In her international debut she finished fourth in the 3000 m at the

1990 European Athletics Championships The 15th European Athletics Championships were held from 26 August to 2 September 1990 in Split, Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia. The host stadium was Stadion Poljud. It was the last participation of East Germany (which was already scheduled to be merged ...

, less than a second behind bronze medallist

Roberta Brunet Roberta Brunet (born May 20, 1965 in Aosta) is a former Middle-distance running, middle distance runner from Italy Biography Roberta Brunet won four medals, at individual level, at the International athletics championships and games, Internationa ...

. She ranked eleventh on time for that event in 1990 and also ranked sixth in the 1500 m. She continued to focus on the 3000 m the following year and a defence of her Soviet indoor title brought her selection for the

. This led to her first international medal – a bronze close behind Romania's

Margareta Keszeg Margareta Keszeg (born 31 August 1965) is a retired middle distance runner from Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, U ...

. Her time of 8:51.90 minutes placed her as the third fastest in the world indoors that year, after Keszeg and the world indoor champion Marie-Pierre Duros.World Top Performers 1980-2006: Women (Indoor)
GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2015-07-20. Outdoors she was third at the 1991 European Cup, again beaten by Keszeg and also Germany's

Uta Pippig Uta Pippig (born 7 September 1965) is a retired German long-distance runner, and the first woman to officially win the Boston Marathon three consecutive times (1994–1996). She also won the Berlin Marathon three times (1990, 1992 and 1995); the 1 ...

.European Cup A Final and Super League (Women)
GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2015-07-20. After the 1991 season Kremlyova returned to the shorter middle-distance events. She continued to prove an adept indoor runner at the

, claiming a silver medal in the 1500 m and losing to fellow former Soviet

Yekaterina Podkopayeva Yekaterina Ilyinychna Podkopayeva (russian: Екатерина Подкопаева; born 11 June 1952 in Moscow) is a retired middle distance runner who represented the USSR and later Russia. She gained international recognition in 1983, when she w ...

by a margin of one hundredth of a second. Although she did not compete at the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

, she was one of the most dominant athletes on the

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 ...

circuit, coming a close second to Lyudmila Rogachova at the 1992 IAAF Grand Prix Final and ranking second on points in the 1500 m for the season.IAAF Grand Prix
GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2015-07-20. Her best performance that year was a win at the

Weltklasse Zürich Weltklasse Zürich ( en, World Class Zurich) is an annual, invitation-only, world-class track and field meeting at the Letzigrund in Zürich, Switzerland, generally held at the end of August or beginning of September. Previously one of the IAAF G ...

, where she won the 1500 m in a time of 3.58.71 minutes. This was a career best and her only sub-four minutes run for the distance. She also set a meeting record of 8:46.99 minutes for the 3000 m at the

KBC Night of Athletics The KBC Night of Athletics ( nl, Nacht van de Atletiek) is an annual athletics event at the Stadium De Veen in Heusden-Zolder, Belgium. It is officially presented and sponsored by the KBC Bank KBC Group is a Belgian universal multi-channel ban ...

– a record which would last over two decades. Kremlyova focused on the outdoor track in 1993 and managed second place over

800 metres The 800 metres, or meters ( US spelling), is a common track running event. It is the shortest commonly run middle-distance running event. The 800 metres is run over two laps of an outdoor (400-metre) track and has been an Olympic event since the ...

at the 1993 European Cup (behind Romania's

Ella Kovacs Ella Kovacs (born 11 December 1964) is a retired Romanian middle-distance runner of Hungarian descent who specialized in the 800 metres.

) and a win in the

mile run The mile run (1,760 yards or exactly 1,609.344 metres) is a middle-distance foot race. The history of the mile run event began in England, where it was used as a distance for gambling races. It survived track and field's switch to ...

at the 1993 IAAF Grand Prix Final, preventing

Sonia O'Sullivan Sonia O'Sullivan (born 28 November 1969) is an Irish people, Irish former track and field athlete. She won a gold medal in the 5000 metres at the 1995 World Championships in Athletics, 1995 World Championships, and a silver medal in the 5000 met ...

from taking a double. Although she was selected for the

1993 World Championships in Athletics The 4th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held in the Neckarstadium, Stuttgart, Germany between 13 and 22 August with the participation of 187 nations. Having ori ...

, ultimately she did not compete.Lyubov Kremlyova
IAAF. Retrieved on 2015-07-20. She topped the 1500 m podium at the 1994 European Cup, holding off

Kelly Holmes Dame Kelly Holmes (born 19 April 1970) is a retired British middle distance athlete. Holmes specialised in the 800 metres and 1,500 metres events and won gold medals for both distances at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. She set Briti ...

. She was the second fastest qualifier at the

1994 European Athletics Championships The 16th European Athletics Championships were held from 7 August to 14 August 1994 in the Olympic Stadium of Helsinki, Finland. Men's results Complete results were published. Track 1986 , 1990 , 1994 , 1998 , 2002 , Field 1986 , 1990 , 199 ...

, but the final was more tactical and she could only place fourth behind Holmes and her Russian teammates Rogachova and Podkopayeva. Her fastest run that year came on the circuit at the

Herculis The Herculis is an annual track and field meet at Stade Louis II in Fontvieille, Monaco. Previously one of the five IAAF Super Grand Prix events, it is now part of the Diamond League. World records Over the course of its history, five world reco ...

meeting, where she finished in 4:01.05 minutes as runner-up to Podkopayeva. This put her fourth on the seasonal rankings. Kremlyova started the 1995 indoor season in top form with a world-leading time of 4:10.41 minutes for the 1500 m. In

Erfurt Erfurt () is the capital and largest city in the Central German state of Thuringia. It is located in the wide valley of the Gera river (progression: ), in the southern part of the Thuringian Basin, north of the Thuringian Forest. It sits i ...

in February she ran the second fastest ever

1000 metres The 1000 metres is an uncommon middle-distance running event in track and field competitions. The 1000 yards, an imperial alternative, was sometimes also contested. All-time top 25 *h = hand timed *i = indoor performance *A = affected by ...

indoors (behind only Inna Yevseyeva), However, she failed a drugs test for steroids at the meeting. While her sample was still subject to further analysis she was allowed to compete. At the

1995 IAAF World Indoor Championships File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

she repeated her feat of four years earlier with a 1500 m bronze medal performance. Her "B" sample from Erfurt soon came positive, however, and she was banned for three and a half years and all her results from February onwards were annulled, leaving

Maite Zúñiga María Teresa "Maite" Zúñiga Domínguez (born 28 December 1964 in Eibar) is a retired Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in S ...

as the retrospective world indoor bronze medallist.

Masters career

Kremlyova returned to competition in June 1998 and, moving up to the

5000 metres The 5000 metres or 5000-metre run is a common long-distance running event in track and field, approximately equivalent to or . It is one of the track events in the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics, run over laps of a stan ...

, showed she was still a force in the sport with a bronze medal at the

Goodwill Games The Goodwill Games were an international sports competition created by Ted Turner in reaction to the political troubles surrounding the Olympic Games of the 1980s. In 1979, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan caused the United States and other ...

at the age of 36. She was running in the first age-group category for

masters athletics Masters athletics is a class of the sport of athletics for athletes of over 35 years of age. The events include track and field, road running and cross country running. Competitors are bracketed into five-year age groups (which promotes fair comp ...

. She was runner-up in the 3000 m at the 1999

Russian Indoor Athletics Championships The Russian Indoor Athletics Championships (russian: Чемпионат России по лёгкой атлетике в помещении) is an annual indoor track and field competition organised by the All-Russia Athletic Federation (ARAF), w ...

, then represented her country in

ekiden is a long-distance running multi-stage relay race, mostly held on roads.Otake, Tomoko. ''One for All.'' Dec. 28, 200The Japan Times accessed Feb. 19, 2009. The original Japanese term had nothing to do with a sport or a competition, but it sim ...

races in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

and

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of To ...

. She found herself the role of

on the

IAAF Golden League The IAAF Golden League was an annual series of outdoor track and field meetings organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). Athletes who won specific events at all of the series meetings were awarded a jackpot prize, ...

circuit in 1999 and 2000, but still competed individually at national level during that period, including her first Russian title in the indoor 3000 m. Her final two international appearances for Russia were at the 2000

International Chiba Ekiden The Ekiden#Other_Major_Ekiden_Events_in_Japan, International Chiba Ekiden was an annual team road running competition held in Chiba, Chiba, Chiba, Japan in late November. The marathon relay race (athletics), relay race, or ekiden as it is known in ...

and the 2001 Yokohama Ekiden. She continued to run competitively into her forties, with a particular focus on American

road running Road running is the sport of running on a measured course over an established road. This differs from track and field on a regular track and cross country running over natural terrain. These events are usually classified as long-distance ac ...

competitions. Highlights included fourth-place finishes at the

World's Best 10K The World's Best 10K (WB10K) is a road race of 10 kilometers celebrated in San Juan, Puerto Rico every year. It is certified by the Association of International Marathons and Road Races (AIMS) and by the International Amateur Athletic Federati ...

and

Cooper River Bridge Run The Cooper River Bridge Run is a one-way road running event across the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge held in the cities of Mount Pleasant and Charleston in South Carolina, on the first Saturday in April (had been first Sunday of April in 1978, first ...

in 2003 and two wins at the Reedy River Run. Into 2006 and 2007, as she passed her mid-forties, she still ranked within the top ten of major races such as the

Azalea Trail Run The Azalea Trail Run is an annual road running event held in late March in Mobile, Alabama which is considered one of the United States' premier road races. Runners, walkers, and wheelchair athletes from around the world and at all levels turn ou ...

and the

Crescent City Classic The Crescent City Classic is an annual 10-kilometer race held in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Mac DeVaughn founded the Classic and held the first race in 1979. The race was originally held in the Fall, but the race is now held the Saturda ...

. She also continued running in track races and in 2002 ran a world record for over-40 athletes in the 3000 m with a time of 9:02.83 minutes indoors.3000 m Indoor Track Rankings for Ages 40-44
ARRS (2015-03-05). Retrieved on 2015-07-20.

Personal bests

;Outdoor *

– 1:59.1 min (1986) *

– 2:33.55 min (1993) *

– 3:58.71 min (1992) *

Mile run The mile run (1,760 yards or exactly 1,609.344 metres) is a middle-distance foot race. The history of the mile run event began in England, where it was used as a distance for gambling races. It survived track and field's switch to ...

– 4:22.46 min (1993) *

– 8:46.94 min (1990) *

– 15:36.58 min (1998) *

10K run 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1 ...

– 32:57 min (1998) * 12-kilometre run – 40:24 min (2001) ;Indoor *

– 2:34.84 min (1993) *

– 4:07.37 min (2000) *

– 4:29.72 min (2003) *

2000 metres The 2000 metres or 2000-metre run is a track running event where five laps are completed around an outdoor 400 m track, or ten laps around a 200 m indoor track - the distance is 11.68 meters short of 1¼ miles. The global governing body World Ath ...

– 5:48.51 min (2003) *

– 8:51.40 min (2000) All information from IAAF and ARRS

National titles

* Soviet Indoor Athletics Championships **3000 m: 1990, 1991 *

**3000 m: 2000

International competitions

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kremlyova, Lyubov Living people 1961 births Russian female long-distance runners Russian female middle-distance runners Soviet female long-distance runners Soviet female middle-distance runners Russian sportspeople in doping cases Soviet sportspeople in doping cases Doping cases in athletics Goodwill Games medalists in athletics Competitors at the 1998 Goodwill Games