Vera Popkova

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Vera Popkova
Medal record
Women's
athletics
Representing the  Soviet Union
Olympic Games
Bronze medal – third place 1968 Mexico City 4×100m relay
European Championships
Bronze medal – third place
1966 Budapest
200 m
Bronze medal – third place
1966 Budapest
4×100 m relay
European Indoor Championships
Gold medal – first place 1971 Sofia 400 m
Gold medal – first place 1971 Sofia 4×400 m relay
Summer Universiade
Silver medal – second place 1963 Porto Alegre 100 m

Vera Ivanovna Popkova (Russian: Вера Ивановна Попкова) (2 April 1943 – 29 September 2011)[1] was a Soviet track and field athlete who competed in the sprints. She had personal bests of 11.3 seconds for the 100 metres and 23.0 seconds for the 200 metres. Over her career, she won eight individual national titles in the sprints (five outdoors and three indoors).[2][3]

She came to prominence by winning medals in the sprints at the

1968 Mexico City Games. Her international career ended on a high note with two gold medals in the 400 metres and relay at the 1971 European Athletics Indoor Championships. She was also a three-time medallist at the European Cup
.

Career

Born in

Master of Sports of the USSR, International Class
in 1965 and Honored Master of Sports of the USSR in 1971. She graduated from Chelyabinsk Politechnical Institute.

Popkova began competing at the top level in 1965: she won her first Soviet title that year, running over

4×100 metres relay team which finished third.[8]

In 1967, she won the 100 m title at the

Lyudmila Zharkova, Galina Bukharina and Lyudmila Samotyosova ran even faster in the Olympic final, clocking 43.41 seconds, yet this was only enough for the bronze as teams from both the United States and Cuba also went under the previous world record mark.[9] Popkova also represented her country in the 200 m event and was narrowly eliminated in the semi-finals after finishing fifth.[4]

She did not compete internationally in 1969 but returned in 1970 with a new focus on the

4×400 metres relay gold with the Soviet Union. However, these proved to be her final medals on the international stage and she retired from athletics in 1973. She later moved to Lviv and worked as an engineer.[8]

References

  1. ^ Although English language obituaries give her date of death as 2 October, her obituary in Russian (published 29 September) gives 29 September: На Львовщине не стало выдающейся легкоатлетки Веры Попковой Archived April 25, 2012, at the Wayback Machine (in Russian)
  2. ^ a b c d Soviet Championships. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2011-10-05.
  3. ^ a b c Soviet Indoor Championships. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2011-10-05.
  4. ^ a b Vera Popkova. Sports Reference. Retrieved on 2011-10-05.
  5. ^ World Student Games (Universiade - Women). GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2011-10-05.
  6. ^ a b c European Cup A Final and Super League (Women). GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2011-10-05.
  7. ^ European Championships (Women). GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2011-10-05.
  8. ^
    European Athletics
    (2011-10-04). Retrieved on 2011-10-05.
  9. ^ Athletics at the 1968 Ciudad de México Summer Games:Women's 4 × 100 metres Relay Final. Sports Reference. Retrieved on 2011-10-05.

External links