Tamara Vladimirovna Bykova

Tamara Wladimirowna Bykova ( Russian Тамара Владимировна Быкова , English transcription Tamara Bykova ; born December 21, 1958 in Azov ) is a former Russian high jumper and Olympic third party.

Tamara Bykowa had a successful sporting career with three world records . She won numerous trophies and medals, even if she lost against her greatest opponents, the German Ulrike Meyfarth and, after her resignation, the Bulgarian Stefka Kostadinowa , in direct clashes.

Career

At the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow , she made her first major international appearance, but was in such bad shape that she only jumped the height of 1.88 m, which was only enough for a 9th place. 6 weeks later she won the Soviet championships with a height of 1.97 m. At the 1981 World Cup in Rome , she and Meyfarth were the only athletes who jumped the 1.96 m. Nevertheless, it was only enough for a 2nd place. At the European Championships in Athens in 1982 Bykowa again jumped the 1.97 m, but again she was only second behind Meyfarth, as Meyfarth also jumped the 2.02 m with a new world record. Then, at the European Indoor Championships in Budapest in 1983 , she finally managed to jump over 2.03 m, which meant the gold medal and a new indoor world record.

At the World Championships in Helsinki in 1983 Ulrike Meyfarth and Tamara Bykowa were the last jumpers in the competition. Both had jumped six feet, but Bykowa had needed one more try. Then she jumped 2.01 m, this time Meyfarth did not make the height and took 2nd place. The next meeting of the two took place at the European Cup in the stadium of Crystal Palace in London . This time Meyfarth set a new world record over 2.03 m and only a few minutes later the Russian jumped the same height, but she needed one more try and had to be satisfied with 2nd place again. Only four days later the two met again, this time in Pisa . And again the two were the last jumpers. This time, however, Bykowa decided the final fight again in their favor with a new world record of 2.04 m.

In 1984 Tamara Bykowa jumped her third world record with 2.05 m in Kiev, but could not take part in the games in Los Angeles because of the Olympic boycott.

At the European Indoor Championships in 1987 she jumped 1.94 m and won silver behind Stefka Kostadinowa. At the indoor world championships in 1987 shortly afterwards Bykowa was fourth with 1.94 m, while Kostadinowa set up a new indoor world record with 2.05 m. In the summer of the 1987 World Championships Bykowa jumped 2.04 m. Again she won silver, because Kostadinowa improved the outdoor world record in this competition to 2.09 m.

At the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul , she won the bronze medal in the high jump, behind the Americans Louise Ritter (gold) and Stefka Kostadinowa (silver).

At the indoor world championships in 1989 she was again the winner Kostadinowa before Tamara Bykowa, who jumped two centimeters less than the Bulgarian with 2.00 m. In the summer she finished second at the European Cup for the fourth time in a row (1983, 1985, 1987, 1989). At the subsequent World Cup she came second for the third time after 1981 and 1985.

She won silver at the Goodwill Games in 1990. But she was convicted of doping with ephedrine , suspended for three months and missed the European championships. At the World Indoor Championships in 1991 she was there again. With 1.97 m she won silver one last time, this time behind the German Heike Henkel .

Bykowa is 1.79 m tall and weighed 62 kg at competition times.

Awards

• 1983: World Sportswoman of the Year ( La Gazzetta dello Sport )

literature

• Peter Matthews (Ed.): Athletics 1992. Windsor 1992, ISBN 1-873057-11-3

Web links

• Tamara Bykova in the database of World Athletics (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Tamara Wladimirowna Bykowa in the database of Sports-Reference (English; archived from the original )
2. ↑ Tamara Wladimirowna Bykowa in the database of Sports-Reference (English; archived from the original )