Maria (also "Mariya" and "Marina") Leontievna Itkina ( be, Марыя Лявонцеўна Іткіна; russian: Мария Леонтьевна Иткина; 3 May 19321 December 2020) was a Soviet runner who set multiple world records in various sprint events. She competed at the 1956, 1960, and 1964 Olympics and finished four times in fourth place. Domestically Itkina held 17 Soviet sprint titles.

Early life

Itkina was born in

Roslavl Roslavl (russian: Ро́славль, ) is a town and the administrative center of Roslavlsky District in Smolensk Oblast, Russia. It is a road and rail junction and a market town. Population: Climate Roslavl has a warm-summer humid continenta ...

in the

Smolensk region Smolensk Oblast (russian: Смоле́нская о́бласть, ''Smolenskaya oblast''; informal name — ''Smolenschina'' (russian: Смоле́нщина)) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative centre is the city o ...

of 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 ...

on 3 May 1932. She later moved with her family to

Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the admi ...

in the

Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR, or Byelorussian SSR; be, Беларуская Савецкая Сацыялістычная Рэспубліка, Bielaruskaja Savieckaja Sacyjalistyčnaja Respublika; russian: Белор� ...

. Itkina competed in athletics for Spartak Minsk and Dynamo Minsk. She graduated from the Belarusian State University of Physical Culture in 1957. Itkina came to specialise in sprint races, competing in the 100m, 200m, 400m and relay. She won 32 USSR championship titles and set 18 national records. Itkina won a sprint event at the first

Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR The Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR (russian: Спартакиада народов СССР, Spartakiada narodov SSSR) was a mass multi-sport event in the Soviet Union which lasted from 1956–1991. The competition was a descendant of the in ...

in 1956.

Competitions

Itkina won four European titles: one in the 200 m (24.3 s, 1954), one in the 4 × 100 m relay (1954), and two in the 400 m (53.7 s in 1958 and 53.4 s in 1962). She also won the 200 m sprint at the

1957 World University Games 1957 World University Games were held between 31 August and 8 September. They were organised under the direction of Jean Petitjean by the Paris University Club in Paris at their Stadium Charlety. He engaged an American student athlete at the Par ...

in Paris, in 24.6 seconds. In her three Olympics, Itkina came in fourth in four events: the 4 × 100 m relay in 1956 and 1960, and the 100 m and 200 m sprint in 1960; she finished fifth in the 400 m in 1964. Her differences with the bronze medalists in the individual events were 0.06, 0.03 and 0.2 seconds, respectively. In 1956 she was eliminated in the 200 m semi-finals coming in 0.01 seconds behind the qualifier

Norma Croker Norma Croker Fleming (11 September 1934 – 21 August 2019) was an Australian sprinter. Croker was educated at Brisbane State High School. At the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia, she placed 4th in the individual 200 metres race, ...

. Itkina also won a sprint event at the first (1965)

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 ...

Records

In July 1956, Itkina set a 220-yard world record of 23.6 seconds, yet her favorite events were the 400 m and 440 yd, in which she set at least four

world records A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

between 1957 and 1962, improving the record from 54.0 to 53.4 seconds. The only other female athlete to break multiple 400m records was

Marita Koch Marita Koch (later Meier-Koch; born 18 February 1957) is a German former sprint track and field athlete. During her career she collected 16 world records in outdoor sprints as well as 14 world records in indoor events. Her record of 47.60 in th ...

. In 1960 Itkina ran her personal best of 11.4 seconds in the 100 meter sprint, which remained a world-top level result for many decades. In 1961, she tied the indoor 60 meter world record of 7.3 seconds, and in 1963 she was part of the Soviet 800-meter relay team that set a world record of 1.34.7.

Awards

Itkina was recognised as an

Honoured Master of Sports of the USSR Unified Sports Classification System of the USSR (russian: Единая Всесоюзная спортивная классификация) is a document which provided general Soviet physical education system requirements for both athletes an ...

and an Honoured Trainer of the

. In 1957 she was appointed a member of the

Order of the Badge of Honour The Order of the Badge of Honour (russian: орден «Знак Почёта», orden "Znak Pochyota") was a civilian award of the Soviet Union. It was established on 25 November 1935, and was conferred on citizens of the USSR for outstanding ...

and in 1960 was awarded the

Medal "For Labour Valour" The Medal "For Labour Valour" (russian: Медаль «За трудовую доблесть») was a civilian labour award of the Soviet Union bestowed to especially deserving workers to recognise and honour dedicated and valorous labour or ...

. In 2000 she was awarded the IOC Prize for Contribution to the Olympic Movement and in 2006 became a third class member of the Russian

Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" The Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" (russian: Орден «За заслуги перед Отечеством», ''Orden "Za zaslugi pered Otechestvom"'') is a state decoration of the Russian Federation. It was instituted on 2 March 1994 by P ...

Personal life

Itkina was

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

. In 1991 she was inducted into the

International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame The International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame ( he, יד לאיש הספורט היהודי, translit=Yad Le'ish HaSport HaYehudi) was opened July 7, 1981 in Netanya, Israel. It honors Jewish athletes and their accomplishments from anywhere around ...

. Itkina died in Belarus on 1 December 2020.

References