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Soviet discus thrower (1945?2016)
Faina Melnik
![](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/db/Faina_Melnyk_1972.jpg/220px-Faina_Melnyk_1972.jpg) Faina Melnik at the 1972 Olympics
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Birth name
| Faina Grigorievna Melnik
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Nationality
| Soviet
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Born
| 9 June 1945
Bakota
,
Ukrainian SSR
,
Soviet Union
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Died
| 16 December 2016
(2016-12-16)
(aged 71)
Moscow, Russia
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Height
| 1.74 m (5 ft 9 in)
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Weight
| 88 kg (194 lb)
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Country
|
Soviet Union
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Sport
| Discus throw, shot put
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Club
| Sevan Yerevan (1969?73)
Spartak Moscow
(1976?80)
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Personal
best(s)
| DT ? 70.50 m (1976)
SP ? 20.03 m (1976)
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Faina Grigorievna Veleva-Melnik
(
Russian
:
Фаина Григорьевна Велева-Мельник
;
Ukrainian
:
Фа?на Григор?вна Вел?ва-Мельник
,
romanized
:
Faina Hryhorivna Velieva-Melnyk
;
nee
Melnik
; 9 June 1945 ? 16 December 2016) was a Soviet
discus thrower
, a
1972 Summer Olympics
champion in the discus event. During her career she set 11 world records.
[1]
[2]
Career
[
edit
]
Faina Melnyk on a 2010 Armenian stamp
Melnik was Jewish, and was born in
Bakota
,
Khmelnytskyi
, Ukraine.
[2]
At the
1972 Summer Olympics
, she broke the Olympic record three times, and set a world record at 66.62 metres. She had already broken the world record, at the
1971 European Athletics Championships
, representing the then Soviet Union.
[3]
In 1976 she had her best ever discus throw of 70.50 m, but finished only fourth at the
1976 Summer Olympics
. At those Olympics she also competed in the shot put and finished tenth. She failed to reach the final in the discus event at the 1980 Games.
[1]
Continuing to throw after the 1980 Olympics, she set the
masters world record
in the
W35 division
that has stood since 1980.
[4]
Melnik graduated from the
Moscow State University of Medicine and Dentistry
and later worked as a dentist and athletics coach in Moscow. Her trainees include
Natalya Lisovskaya
and
Svetlana Krivelyova
. Melnik was married to
Velko Velev
, a Bulgarian discus thrower who also competed at the 1976 and 1980 Olympics.
[1]
She later became an inspiration for
Miss Trunchbull
in the
Roald Dahl
children's book
Matilda
.
[5]
See also
[
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]
References
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]
External links
[
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]