Nina Romashkova

Who is Nina Romashkova?

Nina Apollonovna Ponomaryova was a Soviet/Russian discus thrower, the first Soviet Olympic Champion.

She became interested in athletics since 1947, when she entered the Physical Training Faculty of the Stavropol Pedagogical Institute. Her first official performance was in 1948 on the Stavropol Krai Championships, where she threw discus 30.53m, this result was the new record of the Krai. After just three years of training she became one of the leading Soviet athletes. In 1949 Nina was 3rd in the USSR Championships. At that time an experienced coach Dmitry Markov began to train her. In 1951 Romashkova became the USSR Champion, she repeated this success in 1952-1956, 1958, 1959.

In 1952 she was a member of the USSR Olympic team, which participated in the Olympic Games for the first time in history. At that time the Olympic Record was held since 1936 Summer Olympics by Gisela Mauermayer from Germany at 47.63m. 20 athletes from 17 countries competed in the Discus Throwing Event. In the Qualifying Round Nina took 1st place with the result 45.05m. In the Final Round after the first try Nina Romashkova was 2nd with the result 45.16m, the leader being her teammate Nina Dumbadze.