Lidia Skoblikova

Lidia Pavlovna Skoblikova ( _ru. Лидия Павловна Скобликова) (born 8 March 1939cite book|title=All about Olympic Games.|author=Boris Khavin|publisher=Fizkultura i sport|edition = 2nd ed.|pages=p. 580|year=1979|location=Moscow|language=Russian] [ [http://www.skateresults.com/skater/show/986 Lidia Skoblikova at SkatingResults] ] [ [http://www.databaseolympics.com/players/playerpage.htm?ilkid=SKOBLLID01 Lidia Skoblikova at DatabaseOlympics.com] ] ) is the most successful Olympic speed skater in terms of Olympic gold medals. Representing the USSR Olympic team during the Olympic Winter Games in 1960 and 1964, she won a total of six gold medals, still a record number for a speed skater. She also won 25 gold medals at the World Championships and 15 gold medals at the USSR National Championships in several distances. She was also the first athlete to earn six gold medals in the Olympic Winter Games.

Career

Skoblikova was born in Zlatoust, Soviet Union, some 60 km west of Chelyabinsk, Ural. She trained at Burevestnik and later at Lokomotiv sports societies. In 1959, at age 19, Skoblikova qualified for the Soviet World Championships team, placing third in the national championships. She repeated that performance at the World Championships, winning two distance medals as well. The next season, she seemed headed for the World Title after winning the 500 m and placing 2nd in the 1,500 m, but she fell in the 1,000 m. By winning the final 3,000 m, she managed to land on the podium anyway, placing third again. A favourite for the Olympics now, she entered three events. In the first race, the 1,500 m, she broke the World Record, and won the gold medal. After just missing a second medal in the 1,000 m (fourth), Skoblikova approached the World Record in the 3,000 m (missing it by just half a second), but that was enough for her second gold medal.

During the following years, Skoblikova fought with her team mates to become World Champion. In 1961, she won the bronze for the third consecutive time, followed by the silver medal in 1962. In 1963, she finally managed to win the title. In Karuizawa, conditions were excellent, and Skoblikova won all four races, setting a new 1,000 m World Record in the process.

For the 1964 Olympics, Skoblikova was qualified for all four distances, and she managed to win all of them, thereby becoming the first Winter Olympian to win four individual gold medals. This record was only beaten by Eric Heiden who won all five speedskating events in 1980. Two weeks after the Olympics, she repeated her performance from Karuizawa and won all four distances at the World Championships.

Skoblikova withdrew from speedskating for two seasons, but returned in 1967, setting a new 3,000 m World Record in January. She failed to reach the podium in the World Championships however, and placed fourth. In 1968, she skated her third and last Olympics, but did not win a medal again - the 6th place in the 3,000 m was her best ranking. She retired in 1969 after, remarkably, never having won the USSR National Allround Championships – only single distances. In 1983, Skoblikova, then a member of the Soviet National Olympic Committee, received a silver Olympic Order from the hands of Juan Antonio Samaranch.

Skoblikova was inducted in the "International Women's Sports Hall of Fame" in 1996.

Records

References

External links

* [http://akter.kulichki.net/sport/skating/skoblikova.htm Legends of Soviet Sport: Lidia Skoblikova]
* [http://www.olympic.org/uk/athletes/profiles/bio_uk.asp?PAR_I_ID=71478 Lidia Skoblikova at Olympic.org]
* [http://www.womenssportsfoundation.org/cgi-bin/iowa/about/awards/results.html?record=4 International Women's Sports Hall of Fame] . "Women's Sports Foundation". Retrieved on 2007-08-27.