Natalya Nikolayevna Antyukh (russian: Наталья Николаевна Антюх, born 26 June 1981) is a Russian sprinter who specializes in the 400 metres and

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 ...

. She won the bronze medal in the 400 metres and a silver for the 4 × 400 m relay at the 2004 Summer Olympics in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

. She is currently serving a four-year suspension from 2021 to 2025 for anti-doping rule violations. Her results from 15 July 2012 onwards had been disqualified, including her 2012 Olympic gold medal in the 400 metres hurdles. According to

World Athletics World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body fo ...

, she last competed in 2016.

Background

Her younger brother Kirill Antyukh is a former competitive sprinter, who turned to

bobsleigh Bobsleigh or bobsled is a team winter sport that involves making timed runs down narrow, twisting, banked, iced tracks in a gravity-powered sleigh. International bobsleigh competitions are governed by the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Feder ...

, and was part of the reserve Russian squad for the 2014 Winter Olympics.

Career

2004: Double Olympic medalist at 23 years old

Leading up to the 2004 Summer Olympics, Antyukh achieved a personal best time of 49.85 seconds in the 400 metres at the year's Russian Championships in Tula to place second."El Guerrouj Warms Up For Olympics With Belgium Win"
'' Arab News''. 2 August 2004. Retrieved 29 December 2022. At the 2004 Summer Olympics in

, Greece, she won the bronze medal in the 400 metres with a time of 49.89 seconds, which was 0.48 seconds slower than gold medalist

Tonique Williams-Darling Tonique Williams-Darling ( Williams; born January 17, 1976, Nassau, Bahamas) is a Bahamian sprint athlete. She won the gold medal in the 400 meters at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. College She attended ...

of the

Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to 88% of the ar ...

."USC grad wins gold in Olympic women's 400m for Bahamas, Columbia native finishes 4th"
'' WIS''. 24 August 2004. Retrieved 30 October 2022."Hayes triumphs as her rivals fall"
''

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...

''. 25 August 2004. Retrieved 30 October 2022. Four days later, she won the silver medal for the 4×400 m relay with a final relay time of 3:20.16."2004 Olympic Games Athens - Womens 4 x 400 m"
''sport-olympic.gr''. 28 August 2004. Retrieved 30 October 2022. Six years later, at the 2010 European Championships in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, Spain, she won the gold medal in the 400 metre hurdles with a personal best time of 52.92 seconds.Turnbull, Simon (12 August 2010)
"Battler for Bow is clearing all obstacles"
''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

''. Retrieved 28 December 2022.

2012: Olympic champion at 31 years old

On 8 August 2012, Antyukh, then 31 years old, won the gold medal in the

at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, with a personal best time of 52.70 seconds.Palmer, Justin (8 August 2012)
"Athletics: Golden Antyukh mulls world record bid"
''

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was esta ...

''. Retrieved 30 October 2022."Olympics 400m hurdles: Russia's Natalya Antyukh wins gold"
''

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC television, radio and online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadcasting the sport live or alongside flag ...

''. 8 August 2012. Retrieved 30 October 2022. Three days later, she won the silver medal for the 4×400 m relay, helping finish in a time of 3 minutes, 20.23 seconds."2012 Summer Olympics - Athletes: Natalya Antyukh"
''

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

''. 11 August 2012. Retrieved 31 October 2022. She received the Russian Order of Honour after the Olympics for her performances.

2016: Teammate disqualified, stripped of her 2012 Olympic silver medal

In 2016, Antyukh's silver medal in the 4×400 m relay from the 2012 Olympic Games was stripped, with medals reallocated to relay teams from

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

(silver) and

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

(bronze), after teammate Antonina Krivoshapka had her results from the event disqualified. In 2019, all Russians, including Antyukh, were banned by the

World Anti-Doping Agency The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA; french: Agence mondiale antidopage, AMA) is a foundation initiated by the International Olympic Committee based in Canada to promote, coordinate, and monitor the fight against drugs in sports. The agency's key ...

from competing in international track and field events representing Russia for a four year period.Chappell, Bill (9 December 2019)
"Anti-Doping Agency Bans Russia From International Sports Events For 4 Years"
''

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

''. Retrieved 26 January 2023.

2020–2022: Disqualified, stripped of her 2012 Olympic gold medal

In 2020, Antyukh was among four Russian track and field athletes charged with doping offences, facing charges of using a prohibited substance or method. The

Athletics Integrity Unit The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) was founded by the International Association of Athletics Federations in April 2017 to combat doping in the sport of athletics. The unit functions fully independently from the IAAF. It is currently led by head B ...

said the cases were based on an investigation into Russian doping for the

presented in 2016 by Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren. Her ban was confirmed on 7 April 2021 by the

Court of Arbitration for Sport The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS; french: Tribunal arbitral du sport, ''TAS'') is an international body established in 1984 to settle disputes related to sport through arbitration. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland and its c ...

when she was suspended from athletics for four years, to 2025, with all her results from 30 June 2013 onwards disqualified. In October 2022, more than 10 years and 2 months after the race, her results from July 2012 to June 2013 were disqualified, stripping her of the gold medal in the 400 m hurdles at the 2012 Summer Olympics, with the new recipient being the former silver medalist, American Lashinda Demus.Nair, Rohith (24 October 2022)
"Russia's Antyukh set to lose Olympic gold after AIU disqualifies her results"
''

''. Retrieved 30 October 2022. The stripping of her gold medal marked the attainment of stripping all Russians who won a gold medal in track at the 2012 Summer Olympics of their gold medal(s).Dickinson, Marley (31 August 2014)
"Russia to lose final track gold medal from 2012 Olympics"
''runningmagazine.ca''. Retrieved 31 October 2022. In addition to being banned for anti-doping rule violations, Antyukh, along with all other Russian and Belarusian athletes, was subjected to another ban starting 1 March 2022, which excluded her from all

competitions with no communicated end date and was implemented in response to the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. ...

, part of the ongoing

Russo-Ukrainian War The Russo-Ukrainian War; uk, російсько-українська війна, rosiisko-ukrainska viina. has been ongoing between Russia (alongside Russian separatists in Ukraine) and Ukraine since February 2014. Following Ukraine's Rev ...

that began in 2014."World Athletics Council sanctions Russia and Belarus"
''

''. 1 March 2022. Retrieved 31 October 2022.

Achievements

All information from

profile.

International competitions

Personal bests

200 metres The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightl ...

– 22.75 (-0.2 m/s, Tula 2004) * 400 metres – 49.85 ( Tula 2004) ** 400 metres indoor – 50.37 (

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 millio ...

2006) *

400 m 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 ar ...

– 52.92 (

2010)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Antyukh, Natalya 1981 births Living people Athletes from Saint Petersburg Russian female sprinters Russian female hurdlers Olympic female sprinters Olympic female hurdlers Olympic athletes of Russia Olympic silver medalists for Russia Olympic bronze medalists for Russia Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field) Olympic bronze medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Competitors stripped of Summer Olympics medals World Athletics Championships athletes for Russia World Athletics Championships medalists World Athletics Championships winners World Athletics Indoor Championships winners European Athletics Championships winners European Athletics Championships medalists European Athletics Indoor Championships winners Russian Athletics Championships winners Russian sportspeople in doping cases Doping cases in athletics Recipients of the Order of Honour (Russia)