Marina Ivanovna Stepanova (née Makeyeva (russian: Марина Ивановна Степанова-Макеева) born 1 May 1950) is a Russian former athlete who competed 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 ...

in the

400 metres hurdles The 400 metres hurdles is a track and field hurdling event. The event has been on the Olympic athletics programme since 1900 for men and since 1984 for women. On a standard outdoor track, 400 metres is the length of the inside lane, once a ...

, and became the first woman to run under 53 seconds for the event, when she ran 52.94 secs in 1986.

Career

Born in Meglevo, Imeni Sverdlova, Stepanova started to compete internationally in 1978 at the

European Championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...

in Prague where she finished sixth in her semifinal heat. That year she had a PB of 56.19 seconds in the 400m hurdles. In 1979 she broke the

world record 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 ...

for the first time, running 54.78 seconds at the Soviet Spartakiad, defeating previous world record holder Tatyana Zelentsova. Stepanova retired at the end of the 1980 season and gave birth to a daughter in 1981. She returned in 1983 and quickly regained her form. Unable to attend the 1984 Olympic Games due to the Soviet-led boycott, she did improve her personal best to 53.67 seconds when winning at the 1984

Friendship Games The Friendship Games, or Friendship-84 (russian: Дружба-84, ''Druzhba-84''), was an international multi-sport event held between 2 July and 16 September 1984 in the Soviet Union and eight other socialist states which boycotted the 1984 Su ...

, defeating the 1983 World champion Yekaterina Fesenko and world record holder Margarita Ponomaryova. At the

1986 Goodwill Games The 1986 Goodwill Games was the inaugural edition of the international multi-sport event created by Ted Turner, which was held from 5 – 20 July 1986. The main stadium was the Central Lenin Stadium in Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union. The Game ...

in July, Stepanova won in 53.81 secs. A month later at the 1986 European Championships in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

, she won the gold medal in the world record time of 53.32 seconds. Three weeks later in

Tashkent Tashkent (, uz, Toshkent, Тошкент/, ) (from russian: Ташкент), or Toshkent (; ), also historically known as Chach is the capital and largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of ...

, Stepanova became the first woman in history to break 53 seconds in the 400 m hurdles, improving her world record to 52.94 seconds at the age of 36. This would remain the world record for seven years until

Sally Gunnell Sally Jane Janet Gunnell (born 29 July 1966) is a British former track and field athlete, active between 1984 and 1997, who won the 1992 Olympic gold medal in the 400 metres hurdles. During a golden 24-month period between 1992 and 1994, Gunne ...

ran 52.74 secs in 1993. After the 1987 season she retired at the age of 37.

Personal Bests

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stepanova, Marina 1950 births Living people People from Vsevolozhsky District Soviet female hurdlers Russian female hurdlers European Athletics Championships medalists World record setters in athletics (track and field) Goodwill Games medalists in athletics Competitors at the 1986 Goodwill Games Friendship Games medalists in athletics Sportspeople from Leningrad Oblast