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Tatyana Ledovskaya had made her name as a big time performer at the 1988
Olympic Games, where she improved her personal best time for the 400m
hurdles by 1.30sec to win the silver medal in 53.18sec, the third
fastest time in history. Ledovskaya reinforced this reputation at the
1990 European Championships, where she won the gold medal in 53.62sec,
the fastest time recorded in the world that year. These were the only
two times that Tatyana had broken 54 seconds up to the end of 1990.
Ledovskaya had a relatively indifferent season in 1991 prior to the
World Championships in Tokyo, having not won a race from limited
competition, which made her somewhat of an unknown quantity at Tokyo.
Even her form in the preliminary rounds at Tokyo was not suggestive that
she was a potential winner, despite the fact that she recorded her
fastest time of the year, 54.36sec, when she finished second to Sally
Gunnell (Great Britain) in the second semi-final. In the final, on 29
August, Ledovskaya, in lane 6, blasted away to her typical lightning
start. The only serious threat came from Gunnell, who gradually closed
on Ledovskaya, until she stuttered slightly and lost some momentum at
the last hurdle, and although she gained ground in the race to the
finish, Ledovskaya reached the line first (see photo above) by
0.05sec, clocking a new personal best time of 53.11sec, the second
fastest time ever recorded.
Three days later, Ledovskaya won her second
gold medal, as the lead runner on the Soviet Union's victorious 4 x
400m relay team. The remainder of Tatyana's hurdling career included a
close 4th at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, and elimination in the
semi-finals at both the 1993 and 1995 World Championships. (Ron Casey)
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