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Following her double gold-medal winning performance in the 1500m and
3000m at the 1987 World Championships in Rome, there was much
speculation as to whether Tatyana Samolenko could repeat that
performance at the following year's Olympic Games in Seoul. Samolenko
only raced sparingly prior to Seoul, although she was unbeaten in the
three (one indoor and two outdoor) 3000m races she contested, which
including a victory at the World Games in Helsinki on 30 June.
Samolenko was more renowned as a competitor than a producer of fast
times, relying on her devastating finishing kick to outsprint her rivals
off whatever pace a race was run.
However, this did not mean that she
couldn't maintain a fast pace imposed by others. In the 3000m final at
Seoul, contested on 25 September, Mary Slaney (USA) led the field
through the 1000m mark at world record pace. Although Slaney eventually
dropped back, the fast tempo continued for the remainder of the race,
with most of the major contenders, including Samolenko, staying in
touch. With 300m remaining, Paula Ivan (Romania) sprinted to the lead,
but she quickly surrendered that lead to the even faster-finishing
Samolenko, who went on to win the gold medal from Ivan (see photo above)
in a new Olympic record of 8min 26.53sec. This time was 9.47sec faster
than Tatyana had ever covered the distance before, and moved her to
third on the all-time world list.
Samolenko and Ivan again did battle
in the 1500m final held six days later. However, on this occasion, Ivan
turned the tables on Tatyana, leading from the start, and eventually
winning by a huge margin. Samolenko collected the bronze medal, having
held on to the second position down the home straight, before being
pipped at the post by teammate Laima Baikauskaite in the last few
strides. (Ron Casey)
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