Ritva Kaija Hannele Melender (''née'' Lemettinen, born 9 September 1960 in

Ylistaro Ylistaro is a former municipality of Finland. It was consolidated, together with Nurmo to Seinäjoki on 1 January 2009. It is located in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Southern Ostrobothnia South Ostrobothnia ( fi, Ete ...

) is a retired female

marathon runner The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...

from

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bot ...

. She represented Finland at the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

Barcelona, Spain 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 ...

, finishing in 14th place in the women's marathon. She twice won the

Chicago Marathon The Chicago Marathon is a marathon (long-distance foot race) held every October in Chicago, Illinois. It is one of the six World Marathon Majors. Thus, it is also a World Athletics Label Road Race. The Chicago Marathon is the fourth-largest r ...

, in 1993 and 1995. Her personal best time is 2:28:00 set at the London Marathon in 1995. This is also the current Finnish national record.

Achievements

References

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sports-reference
1960 births Living people Sportspeople from Seinäjoki Finnish female long-distance runners Athletes (track and field) at the 1992 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Finland Chicago Marathon female winners Finnish Athletics Championships winners {{Finland-athletics-bio-stub