Averina, Tatiana (1951—)

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Averina, Tatiana (1951—)

Russian speedskater. Name variations: Tatyana. Born in the USSR in 1951; grew up and trained in the central Russian city of Gorky.

Won the Olympic gold medal in 1,000 and 3,000 meters and a bronze in the 500 and 1,500 meters (1976); won world championship (1978).

The Soviet speedskater Tatiana Averina held the world records in the 500, 1,000, and 1,500 meters when she entered the 1976 Olympics at Innsbruck, Austria. The 25-year-old college student won the gold in the 1,000 meters with an Olympic record of 1:28.43. Leah Poulos Mueller came in 14/100ths of a second behind her. Averina took a second gold in the 3,000 meters with an Olympic record of 4:45.19, ahead of East Germany's Andrea Mitscherlich Schöne . Though Sheila Young took the 500 meter, third-place finisher Averina also broke the Olympic record in that event. Galina Stepanskaya , a last-minute addition to the Soviet skating team, took the 1,500, while Averina came in third.