Olena Pavlivna Lapunova ( uk, Олена Павлівна Лапунова; born 1 October 1980) is a Ukrainian former swimmer, who specialized in freestyle and individual medley events. She is a three-time Olympian (1996, 2000, and 2004), an eighth-place finalist at the European Championships (1997), and a former Ukrainian record holder in the 200 m freestyle and individual medley. Lapunova made her Olympic debut, as Ukraine's youngest swimmer (aged 15), at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...

. She placed twenty-first in the 200 m freestyle (2:04.07) and twenty-ninth in the 200 m individual medley (2:20.76). In 1998, Lapunova ordered a four-year suspension from FINA, after she was tested positive for the banned metandienone metabolite. The Ukrainian Swimming Federation later reinstated her for an appeal in order to compete at the succeeding Olympics. On her second Olympic appearance in

Sydney 2000 The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

, Lapunova extended her program by qualifying for three swimming events. She failed to advance into the succeeding round of her individual events, finishing twenty-sixth in the 200 m freestyle (2:04.39) and thirty-second in the 400 m freestyle (4:19.96). She also placed thirteenth as a member of the Ukrainian team in the 4×100 m freestyle relay, with a time of 3:49.11. Eight years after her first Olympics, Lapunova qualified for her third Ukrainian team, as a 23-year-old, 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 eclipsed her personal best and a FINA B-cut of 2:02.30 in the 200 m freestyle from the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

Madrid, Spain Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

. She edged out Switzerland's Hanna Miluska to lead the third heat by 0.57 of a second in 2:02.71. Lapunova failed to advance into the semifinals, placing twenty-second overall in the morning prelims.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lapunova, Olena 1980 births Living people Ukrainian female swimmers Olympic swimmers for Ukraine Swimmers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Ukrainian female freestyle swimmers Female medley swimmers Sportspeople from Dnipro Ukrainian sportspeople in doping cases Doping cases in swimming 20th-century Ukrainian women 21st-century Ukrainian women