Tatyana KAZANKINA

By the end of the 1975 season, Tatyana Kazankina's career had progressed to a stage where her name was being seriously discussed as a contender for the 1500m Olympic title to be decided the following year in Montreal. Her best time of the year (4min 07.9sec) had been beaten by only two others and her personal best of 4min 05.94sec, set in 1974, ranked her 9th on the all time list. She had also set a personal best of 2min 01.7sec over 800m during 1975 ranking 20th on the year's list, but her main chance of success in Montreal seemed to lie in her speciality event, the 1500m. By the end of 1976 however, Kazankina’s standing in the world rankings had dramatically changed.

In the Olympic 800m final at Montreal on 26 July, Kazankina stayed in touch with the very fast pace set in the first lap and a half, and then sprinted away off the last bend to win easily in a new World Record of 1min 54.94sec. The pace was so fast that the first four finishers all broke the existing World Record of 1min 56.0sec. Following her 800m win, Kazankina was clearly the favourite for the 1500m event held four days later, as she had become the World Record holder at this distance earlier in the year setting a new mark of 3min 56.0sec at Podolsk on 28 June. The early stages of the 1500m final were run at a relatively slow pace (Tatyana, No 340, is seen in 6th position above), which suited Kazankina due to her strong finish. She won in 4min 05.48sec running the last lap in 56.9sec. After the Games, on 16 August, she teamed with three of her countrywomen to set a new World Record of 7min 52.4sec in the 4 x 800m relay, anchored by a 1min 57.4sec anchor leg from Kazankina. (Ron Casey).

After her double gold medal triumph at the 1976 Olympic Games, Tatyana Kazankina took the next three years comparatively easy, and in fact took the whole of 1978 off for the birth of her first child. However, in 1980 she returned better than ever, setting a new World Record of 3min 55.0sec in the 1500m just prior to the Olympic Games. She did not attempt to defend her 800m Olympic title as she felt that she had "lost some speed" in the months before the Olympics, although a clocking of 1min 56.5sec at Moscow on 12 July suggested she hadn't lost too much. Probably because of her concerns over her speed she modified her usual tactics in the Olympic 1500m final at Moscow on 1 August. Instead of starting her sprint finish at the top of the straight, this time she started a sustained surge 500m from the finish. Nobody could match her pace and she won easily in a new Olympic record of 3min 56.58sec (the photo above shows Tatyana with her gold medal).

Two weeks after the Games, Kazankina chose the Weltklasse meet at Zurich to make a serious attempt to break her own 1500m World Record. With the help of a pacemaker she won in the outstanding time of 3min 52.47sec, lowering her old mark by over 2.5sec. She concentrated on the longer distances in the latter part of her career, finishing third behind Mary Decker (USA) in the 3000m at the 1983 World Championships in Helsinki, and setting a World Record of 8min 22.62sec for 3000m at Leningrad on 26 August 1984. Her career finished on a somewhat sour note at Paris on 4 September 1984. After easily winning the 5000m event, she refused to take a drug test, an action that led to her suspension by both her national federation and the IAAF. (Ron Casey).

Apart from her sports achievements, Kazankina is known for her scientific works. She graduated from the Faculty of Economics at the Leningrad State University in 1975. Later she defended her dissertation for the Candidate of Pedagogical Science degree at the Lesgaft Institute of Physical Education and worked as a lecturer until 1997. She is the author of more than 20 scientific works.