Faina Grigoryevna Melnik

Faina Grigoryevna Melnik

Faina Melnyk ( Russian Фаина Григорьевна Мельник , Ukrainian Фаїна Григорівна Мельник , scientific. Transliteration Faina Grigorjevna Mel'nik * 9. June 1945 in Bakota , Ukrainian SSR ; † 16th December 2016 ) was a Soviet athlete . She became Olympic champion in discus throw in 1972 .

Life

From 1977 to 1979 Faina Melnik was married to the Bulgarian discus thrower Welko Welew and was called Faina Welewa during this time .

At the European Championships in Helsinki in 1971 , she won with a world record width of 64.22 m and over two meters ahead of Liesel Westermann from the Federal Republic of Germany. Before the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich , Melnik had increased the world record to 65.48 m on June 24, 1972 in the Rosenaustadion in Augsburg . Six weeks later, on August 4, 1972, she threw another world record in Moscow with 66.76 m. Shortly afterwards she won in Munich with 66.62 m and one and a half meters ahead of the Romanian Argentina Menis . In 1973 she won the Universiade with 64.54 m.

1974 Faina Melnik won the European Championships in Rome with 69.00 m. Argentina Menis won silver with 64.62 m. At the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal Faina Melnik was fourth in the discus throw with 66.40 m in the fourth round. Her fifth attempt of 68.40 m was initially invalid. After breaking off her turn to the throw that she had started in the ring twice, the referee raised the red flag and invalidated the attempt. Melnik protested and the chief judge decided. that she was allowed to throw. She came to 68.60 m. That would have been enough to get silver behind Evelin Schlaak from the GDR. But the subsequent protest of the team leaders from Bulgaria and the GDR was granted, with the consequence that Faina Melnik, who is used to success, came away with no medals this time. An objective assessment of the extent to which the decision ultimately made was correct remains a matter of interpretation and judgment. Three days after the final in the discus throw, Melnik also competed in the shot put and was tenth with 18.07 m.

As Faina Welewa, she was fifth with 62.30 m at the European Championships in 1978 in Prague . At the 1980 Olympic Games , Faina Melnik was eliminated from qualification.

Between 1971 and 1976 she was able to improve the world record eleven times, most recently on 70.50 m. This made her the first woman (with her tenth world record in 1975 with 70.20 m) to throw more than 70 meters.

On December 16, 2016, the Russian Athletics Federation announced that Faina Melnik had died at the age of 71.

literature

• Ekkehard zur Megede: The Modern Olympic Century 1896-1996 Track and Field Athletics . Berlin 1999, published by the German Society for Athletics Documentation e. V.

Web links

Commons : Faina Grigoryevna Melnik  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Faina Grigoryevna Melnik in the database of Sports-Reference (English; archived from the original ), accessed on December 21, 2017

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Соболезнуем . Report of death on the website of the Russian Athletics Federation, December 16, 2016, accessed December 17, 2016 (Russian)
2. ↑ Hau den big brother , Der Spiegel November 29, 1976, H. 49/1976, accessed on December 21, 2017
3. ↑ Faina Melnik died at the age of 71 . dpa article at RP Online , December 16, 2016, accessed on December 17, 2016.