Galina Prozumenshchikova facts for kids

Galina Prozumenshchikova in 1966
Quick facts for kids Personal information
Born	(1948-11-26)26 November 1948 Sevastopol, Russian SFSR
Died	19 July 2015(2015-07-19) (aged 66) Moscow, Russia
Height	1.69 m (5 ft 7 in)
Weight	68 kg (150 lb)
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Strokes	Breaststroke
Club	SKF Sevastopol; CSKA Moscow
Medal record Representing the Soviet Union Olympic Games Gold 1964 Tokyo 200 m breaststroke Silver 1968 Mexico City 100 m breaststroke Bronze 1968 Mexico City 200 m breaststroke Silver 1972 Munich 100 m breaststroke Bronze 1972 Munich 200 m breaststroke European Championships Gold 1966 Utrecht 200 m breaststroke Silver 1966 Utrecht 4×100 m medley Gold 1970 Barcelona 100 m breaststroke Gold 1970 Barcelona 200 m breaststroke Silver 1970 Barcelona 4×100 m medley Summer Universiade Gold 1970 Turin 100 m breaststroke Gold 1970 Turin 200 m breaststroke Bronze 1973 Moscow 100 m breaststroke

Galina Nikolayevna Prozumenshchikova (born November 26, 1948 – died July 19, 2015) was an amazing swimmer from the Soviet Union. She was best known for her breaststroke style. She also competed in team medley races.

Galina won five Olympic medals between 1964 and 1972. She also earned five medals at the European Championships in 1966 and 1970. Her first Olympic medal was a gold in the 200 meter breaststroke in 1964. This was a very special win because it was the first Olympic swimming gold medal ever for the Soviet Union!

From 1964 to 1966, Galina set five new world records in swimming. She set four records in the 200 meter breaststroke and one in the 100 meter breaststroke. She was also a national champion, winning 15 titles and setting 27 national records in her country between 1963 and 1972.

Galina's Early Life and First Olympic Gold

Galina was born in Sevastopol, a city in what was then the Russian SFSR of the Soviet Union. She got married twice in her life. Because of this, her last name changed first to Stepanova and then to Ivannikova.

Her father, Nikolai Nikolayevich, was a submarine captain. Her mother, Sofia Petrovna, was a nurse who helped during World War II. Galina started swimming in a club when she was 11 years old, in 1959. She swam for a club called SKF Sevastopol until 1966.

By the time of her first Olympics in 1964, Galina had already won many national and international competitions. She had also set national and world records in the 200 meter breaststroke. Even though her favorite race was the 100 meter breaststroke, it only became an Olympic event in 1968.

Just before the 1964 Games, Galina had surgery for appendicitis, which is when your appendix needs to be removed. This meant she wasn't in her best shape. She also had a strong competitor named Svetlana Babanina, who had set a world record in the 100 meter breaststroke before the Olympics. But even with these challenges, Galina Prozumenshchikova won the 200 meter event! She set a new Olympic record and brought home the first Soviet Olympic gold medal in swimming. Svetlana Babanina finished third.

Moving to Moscow and More Medals

In 1966, Galina moved to Moscow and started studying journalism at Moscow State University. That same year, she set her fastest record for the 200 meter breaststroke, finishing in 2 minutes and 40.8 seconds. This was almost seven seconds faster than her first record in 1964! She won a gold medal in this event at the 1966 European Aquatics Championships. She also won a silver medal in a medley relay race.

Two years later, at the 1968 Summer Olympics, Galina almost won gold in the 100 meter breaststroke, missing it by just a tiny bit. She ended up with a silver medal in the 100 meter race and a bronze medal in the 200 meter breaststroke.

In 1969, Galina had a daughter named Irina. She thought about stopping her swimming career. However, she decided to return to competing in 1970. That year, she won gold medals in both the 100 meter and 200 meter breaststroke races at the 1970 European Aquatics Championships. She also earned another silver medal in the medley relay.

Galina swam for the Soviet Union again in the 1972 Summer Olympics. She repeated her success from 1968, winning two more Olympic medals: a silver in the 100 meter breaststroke and a bronze in the 200 meter breaststroke. She retired from competitive swimming the next year.

Life After Swimming

Galina graduated from Moscow State University in 1976. For a while, she wrote sports articles for a big newspaper called Izvestia. But she soon left journalism. From 1976 to 1980, she worked in sports management. After 1980, she became a swimming coach for children at CSKA.

In the 1970s, she married an economist named Yuri Ivanovich Ivannikov. They had a son, Grigory Yurievich, in 1979. In 1991, Galina even competed in swimming again! She set at least 35 national records in the "masters" category, which is for older athletes.

Galina Prozumenshchikova passed away in Moscow on July 19, 2015, at the age of 66. She had been ill for a long time.

Awards and Honors

Galina Prozumenshchikova around 1972

In 2013, two years before she passed away, Galina Prozumenshchikova was recognized as one of the "100 Greatest Swimmers in History." This was in a book written by sports journalist John Lohn. She was ranked at number 60 in the book, which highlighted her Olympic and European medals, and how good she was at setting new world records.

Galina also received special awards from her home country, including:

• Order of the Red Banner of Labour (1972)
• Order of Friendship of Peoples (1993)
• Medal "For Distinguished Labour" (twice)

See also

In Spanish: Galina Prozumenshchikova para niños

• List of members of the International Swimming Hall of Fame
• World record progression 100 metres breaststroke
• World record progression 200 metres breaststroke