Russia's Masterkova aims for
1500 metres gold
Alexander Fedorets (AFP)
20 September 2000 - Russian athlete Svetlana Masterkova, who burst onto the international scene at the Atlanta Olympics, has another chance for Olympic gold in Sydney in her favourite 1500 metres distance.
In Atlanta, Masterkova won both the 800 and 1500 metres, emulating Soviet star Tatiana Kazankina, who had accomplished the same feat 20 years ago in Montreal.
Masterkova was born in the small town of Achinsk in Siberia in 1968 and started her athletics career at the age of 13.
Nevertheless, Masterkova was talented enough to set down a mark of 2:04.3 minutes at 800 metres just two years later to attract the attention of the Soviet athletics chiefs.
She was invited to the national junior squad and later established a new Soviet junior record at 800m, which has remained unbeaten since 1985.
At the age of 19 her progress stopped and she was on the edge of quitting her athletics career, when one of the Russian squad's coaches Svetlana Styrkina gave her a second chance and managed to motivate her to keep on practising.
She worked hard for years for another chance and finally got a place in the Russian squad for the 1993 World Indoor Championships in Toronto, where Masterkova surprisingly earned her first international success, winning the silver medal in 800m.
However, Masterkova was still in the shadow of her team-mates until 1996, when she managed to became the star of the show in Atlanta after two years out of sport when she gave birth to her daughter.
Her success in Atlanta also brought her the honorary title of the best female athlete of the year.
Later she managed to prove her winning skills, earning 1500m gold medals at the 1998 European Championships in 1998 and 1999 World Championships.
Masterkova is also the world record holder in the 1000 metres and mile.
She currently lives in the Spanish town of Alicante together with her husband Asyat Saitov - a former professional cyclist - and her daughter Nastya.
This year Masterkova managed to overcome her Achilles tendon injuries, which have plagued her for years and comes to Sydney as a hot favourite for the gold at the 1500 metres distance.
