Tatyana Averina facts for kids
Tatyana Averina in 1979
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| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | 25 June 1950 Nizhny Novgorod, Russia |
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| Died | 22 August 2001 (aged 51) Moscow, Russia |
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| Height | 1.65 m (5 ft 5 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 61 kg (134 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Speed skating | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Burevestnik | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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Tatyana Borisovna Averina (Russian: Татья́на Бори́совна Аве́рина; born June 25, 1950 – died August 22, 2001) was an amazing Soviet Russian speed skater. She was known for her incredible speed on the ice. After she got married, her name also appeared as Tatyana Barabash (Russian: Татьяна Барабаш).
Contents
About Tatyana Averina's Life
Tatyana Averina was trained by Boris Stenin at the Burevestnik sports club in Gorky. In 1970, she was chosen to join the USSR National Team. This meant she was one of the best skaters in the country!
She quickly started making a name for herself. In 1970, she placed 12th at the World All-around Championships. The next year, she won a bronze medal in the 1,000-meter race at the European Championships. In 1972, she won the 500-meter event at the Winter Universiade, a competition for university athletes.
Breaking World Records
Between 1974 and 1975, Tatyana Averina broke world records an amazing eleven times! She set new fastest times in the 1000 meters (four times), the 1,500 meters (twice), the 500 meters (twice), and the mini combination (three times). The mini combination is a special score based on results from several races.
In 1976, she earned the special title of Honoured Master of Sports of the USSR. This title is given to athletes who achieve outstanding results in sports.
Olympic Success in 1976
Tatyana Averina competed in the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria. She had an incredible performance, winning medals in all four distances she competed in! She took home two gold medals and two bronze medals.
Before the Olympics, a Swiss newspaper called Sport wrote that it was rare for an athlete to be good at all distances in speed skating. But Tatyana proved them wrong by excelling in every race!
Later Career and Championships
Averina also took part in the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, USA. While she didn't win any medals there, her career was still full of achievements.
After winning three silver medals in earlier years (1974, 1975, and 1976), Tatyana became the World Allround Champion in 1978. This meant she was the best all-around speed skater in the world that year! In 1979, she became the Soviet Allround Champion. She had also been the Soviet Sprint Champion three times before (in 1973, 1974, and 1975).
Tatyana Averina's Medals
Here's a quick look at the medals Tatyana Averina won at important championships:
| Championships | Gold medal | Silver medal | Bronze medal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Winter Olympics | 1976 (1,000 m) 1976 (3,000 m) |
– | 1976 (500 m) 1976 (1,500 m) |
| World Allround | 1978 | 1974 1975 1976 |
– |
| World Sprint | – | – | – |
| European Allround | – | – | – |
| Soviet Allround | 1979 | – | – |
| Soviet Sprint | 1973 1974 1975 |
– | – |
World Records Set by Tatyana Averina
Throughout her career, Tatyana Averina set eleven world records. This means she skated faster than anyone else in the world at those times!
| Event | Result | Date | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1,500 m | 2:14.00 | 1 April 1974 | Medeo |
| 1,000 m | 1:26.40 | 2 April 1974 | Medeo |
| Mini combination | 180.089 | 2 April 1974 | Medeo |
| 500 m | 41.70 | 11 March 1975 | Medeo |
| 1,500 m | 2:09.90 | 11 March 1975 | Medeo |
| 1,000 m | 1:26.12 | 12 March 1975 | Medeo |
| Mini combination | 176.930 | 12 March 1975 | Medeo |
| 1,000 m | 1:25.28 | 22 March 1975 | Medeo |
| 500 m | 41.06 | 29 March 1975 | Medeo |
| 1,000 m | 1:23.46 | 29 March 1975 | Medeo |
| Sprint combination | 168.285 | 29 March 1975 | Medeo |
Tatyana Averina's Personal Best Times
These are Tatyana Averina's fastest times in different events. The "WR" column shows what the official world record was on the day she set her personal best. This helps you see how close she was to the world record, or if she even broke it!
| Event | Result | Date | Venue | WR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 500 m | 41.06 | 29 March 1975 | Medeo | 41.69 |
| 1,000 m | 1:23.3 | 2 October 1979 | Medeo | 1:23.46 |
| 1,500 m | 2:07.88 | 12 January 1979 | Medeo | 2:07.18 |
| 3,000 m | 4:38.48 | 13 January 1979 | Medeo | 4:31.00 |
| 5,000 m | 9:04.9 | 29 November 1981 | Moscow | 9:01.6 |
It's interesting to note that her personal record for the 3,000 meters was not officially recognized as a world record by the International Skating Union (ISU). Also, the 5,000-meter event was paused as a world record event for a while. It was brought back in 1982.
Tatyana Averina also had an Adelskalender score of 184.589. This is a special ranking system in speed skating that combines a skater's best times across different distances.
