Lyudmila Ivanovna Gurevitch (nee Shevtsova later Lysenko; born 26 November 1934) is a retired Soviet athlete who competed mainly in the 800 metres. On 3 July 1960, she set a world record in this event at 2 min 4.3 seconds. She equalled this time while winning the 800 m gold at the 1960 Olympics two months later. Two Australians, Brenda Jones and

Dixie Willis Dixie Isabel Willis ''(later Booth, then Ingram)'' (born 13 December 1941 in Fremantle, Western Australia) is a former Australian middle distance runner, who won the gold medal in the women's 880 yards event at the 1962 Commonwealth Games. Sh ...

led the race. With 50–70 m left, Willis stepped on the curb and dropped out of competition, while Shevtsova gradually reached Jones and won in the last meters.Liudmyla Lysenko
sports-reference.com In 1954 Shevtsova finished second in the 800 m at the national and third at European Championships. At the 1962 European Championships she failed to reach the final. During her career she won nine national titles: in the 400 m in 1955; in the 800 m in 1955–56, 1959, and 1961–62; and in the cross-country in 1960–62 and 1964. After retiring from competitions she coached athletics in Kiev, Ukraine. She was awarded the

Order of the Red Banner of Labour The Order of the Red Banner of Labour (russian: Орден Трудового Красного Знамени, translit=Orden Trudovogo Krasnogo Znameni) was an order of the Soviet Union established to honour great deeds and services to th ...

in 1960. Shevtsova first trained in artistic gymnastics, and changed to running only in 1951, after winning by surprise a cross country race at the Dnipropetrovsk championships. She married twice and thus changed her last name to Lysenko and then to Gurevich. She has two sons from different marriages, Oleg (born 1957), and Vladimir. She lives in Kiev with her second husband, an athletics coach.Вера в успех дает высокие результаты
(interview in Russian) zorya.org.ua

References

1934 births Living people Olympic athletes of the Soviet Union Athletes (track and field) at the 1960 Summer Olympics Soviet female middle-distance runners Russian female middle-distance runners Olympic gold medalists for the Soviet Union People from Temryuksky District Avanhard (sports society) sportspeople Medalists at the 1960 Summer Olympics European Athletics Championships medalists Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Ukrainian female cross country runners Sportspeople from Krasnodar Krai {{USSR-athletics-Olympic-medalist-stub