{{Short description|Soviet sprinter (1932–2020)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}} {{Infobox sportsperson | headercolor = | name = Maria Itkina | image = Maria Itkina 1955 (cropped).jpg | image_size = <!--Only for images narrower than 220 pixels.--> | caption = Maria Itkina in 1955 | birth_name = | fullname = | nickname = | nationality = | residence = | birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1932|5|3}}<ref name="BelProfile">[http://dynamo.by/main/publications/news/events/all/6936/ Profile of Maria Itkina] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201203084108/http://dynamo.by/main/publications/news/events/all/6936/ |date=3 December 2020 }} {{in lang|be}}</ref> | birth_place = Roslavl, RSFSR, USSR | death_date = {{death date and age|2020|12|1|1932|5|3|df=y}} | death_place = Minsk, Belarus | country = | sport = Athletics | event = 60–400 m |pb=100 m – 11.4 (1960)<br> 200 m – 23.4 (1956)<br> 400 m – 52.9 (1965) | collegeteam = | club = Spartak Minsk <br> Dynamo Minsk | height = {{convert|1.66|m|ftin|abbr=on}} | weight = {{convert|62|kg|lb|abbr=on}} |alma_mater= | show-medals = yes | medaltemplates = {{Medal|Sport|Women's athletics}} {{MedalCountry|the {{URS}}}} {{MedalCompetition|European Championships}} {{MedalGold|1954 Bern | 200 m}} {{MedalGold|1954 Bern | 4×100 m}} {{MedalGold|1958 Stockholm | 400 m}} {{MedalGold|1962 Belgrade | 400 m}} {{MedalBronze|1958 Stockholm | 200 m}} }} '''Maria''' (also "'''Mariya'''" and "'''Marina'''") '''Leontievna Itkina''' ({{langx|be|Марыя Лявонцеўна Іткіна}}; {{langx|ru|Мария Леонтьевна Иткина}}; 3 May 1932{{spnd}}1 December 2020) was a Soviet runner who set multiple world records in various sprint events. She competed at the 1956, 1960, and 1964 Olympics and finished four times in fourth place.<ref name="sports-reference1"/> Domestically Itkina held 17 Soviet sprint titles.<ref name="jewishsports1">{{cite web |url=http://www.jewishsports.net/BioPages/MariaLeontyavnaItkina.htm |title=Maria Leontyavna Itkina |publisher=Jewishsports.net |access-date=15 August 2011 |archive-date=23 August 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120823100951/http://www.jewishsports.net/BioPages/MariaLeontyavnaItkina.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>
== Early life == Itkina was born in Roslavl in the Smolensk region of the Soviet Union on 3 May 1932.<ref name="BelProfile"/><ref name=euro>{{cite web |title=На 89-м году жизни скончалась легендарная бегунья Мария Иткина |url=https://euroradio.pl/ru/na-89-m-godu-zhizni-skonchalas-legendarnaya-begunya-mariya-itkina |publisher=euroradio.fm |language=ru}}</ref> She later moved with her family to Minsk in the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. Itkina competed in athletics for Spartak Minsk and Dynamo Minsk.<ref name=euro/> She graduated from the Belarusian State University of Physical Culture in 1957. Itkina came to specialise in sprint races, competing in the 100 m, 200 m, 400 m and {{nowrap|4 × 100 m}} relay. She won 32 USSR championship titles and set 18 national records. Itkina won a sprint event at the first Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR in 1956.<ref name="BelProfile"/>
==Competitions== Itkina won four European titles: one in the 200 m (24.3 s, 1954), one in the 4 × 100 m relay (1954),<ref name="jewishsports1"/><ref name="European Championships Women">{{cite web|url=http://www.gbrathletics.com/ic/ecw.htm |title=European Championships (Women) |publisher=Gbrathletics.com |access-date=15 August 2011}}</ref> and two in the 400 m (53.7 s in 1958 and 53.4 s in 1962).<ref name="jewishsports1"/><ref name="European Championships Women"/> She also won the 200 m sprint at the 1957 World University Games in Paris, in 24.6 seconds.<ref>[http://www.gbrathletics.com/ic/wsg.htm WORLD STUDENT GAMES (PRE-UNIVERSIADE)]. gbrathletics.com</ref>
In her three Olympics, Itkina came in fourth in four events: the 4 × 100 m relay in 1956 and 1960, and the 100 m and 200 m sprint in 1960; she finished fifth in the 400 m in 1964. Her differences with the bronze medalists in the individual events were 0.06, 0.03 and 0.2 seconds, respectively.<ref name="sports-reference1"/><ref name="jewishsports1"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1960/ATH/womens-100-metres-final.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417170707/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1960/ATH/womens-100-metres-final.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=17 April 2020 |title=Athletics at the 1960 Roma Summer Games: Women's 100 metres Final |publisher=Sports-reference.com |date=2 September 1960 |access-date=15 August 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1960/ATH/womens-200-metres-final.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417170708/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1960/ATH/womens-200-metres-final.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=17 April 2020 |title=Athletics at the 1960 Roma Summer Games: Women's 200 metres Final |publisher=Sports-reference.com |date=5 September 1960 |access-date=15 August 2011}}</ref> In 1956 she was eliminated in the 200 m semi-finals coming in 0.01 seconds behind the qualifier Norma Croker.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1956/ATH/womens-200-metres-semi-finals.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417081232/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1956/ATH/womens-200-metres-semi-finals.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=17 April 2020 |title=Athletics at the 1956 Melbourne Summer Games: Women's 200 metres Semi-Finals |publisher=Sports-reference.com |date=29 November 1956 |access-date=15 August 2011}}</ref> Itkina also won a sprint event at the first (1965) European Cup.<ref name="BelProfile"/>
==Records== In July 1956, Itkina set a 220-yard world record of 23.6 seconds,<ref name="jewishsports1"/> yet her favorite events were the 400 m and 440 yd, in which she set at least four world records between 1957 and 1962, improving the record from 54.0 to 53.4 seconds.<ref name="jewishsports1"/><ref name=nyt/><ref name=queen/> The only other female athlete to break multiple 400 m records was Marita Koch.<ref name=queen/>
In 1960 Itkina ran her personal best of 11.4 seconds in the 100 meter sprint, which remained a world-top level result for many decades.<ref name="jewishsports1"/><ref name=nyt>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1960/07/03/archives/100meter-dash-is-won-in-0114-maria-itkins-of-ussr-has-fastest-time.html |title=100-Meter Dash is Won in 0:11.4; Maria Itkins of U.S.S.R. Has Fastest Time of Year for Woman Athlete |work=The New York Times |date= 3 July 1960|access-date=15 August 2011}}</ref> In 1961, she tied the indoor 60 meter world record of 7.3 seconds,<ref name="google1">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dAq4TGQsWwwC&pg=PA124 |title=Day by day in Jewish sports history |year=2008 |author= Bob Wechsler|isbn=9780881259698 |access-date=15 August 2011}}</ref> and in 1963 she was part of the Soviet 800-meter relay team that set a world record of 1.34.7.<ref name="jewishsports1"/><ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=xe00AAAAIBAJ&sjid=UbsDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3303,2275936&dq=maria+itkina&hl=en |title=Miss Cuthbert Loses Record |publisher=The Age |date= 15 September 1959 |access-date=15 August 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=VuhTAAAAIBAJ&sjid=4jgNAAAAIBAJ&pg=2769,2810057&dq=maria+itkina&hl=en |title=Soviet Sprinters Claim World Mark |publisher=St. Joseph News-Press |date=18 August 1963 |access-date=15 August 2011}}</ref>
== Awards == Itkina was recognised as an Honoured Master of Sports of the USSR and an Honoured Trainer of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1957 she was appointed a member of the Order of the Badge of Honour and in 1960 was awarded the Medal "For Labour Valour". In 2000 she was awarded the IOC Prize for Contribution to the Olympic Movement and in 2006 became a third class member of the Russian Order "For Merit to the Fatherland".<ref name="BelProfile"/>
==Personal life== Itkina was Jewish.<ref name="sports-reference1">{{cite web|url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/it/mariya-itkina-1.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200418094343/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/it/mariya-itkina-1.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=18 April 2020 |title=Mariya Itkina |publisher=Sports-reference.com }}</ref><ref name="google1"/><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1956/11/15/archives/russians-equal-olympic-record-barteniev-and-toukarev-do-0103-for.html |title=Russians Equal Olympic Record; Barteniev and Toukarev do 0:10.3 for 100 Meters |work= The New York Times|date= 15 November 1956|access-date=15 August 2011}}</ref> In 1991 she was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.<ref name="jewishsports1"/>
Itkina died in Belarus on 1 December 2020.<ref name=queen>{{cite news |title=Morta Maria Itkina, l'eterna quarta olimpica e 4 volte primatista del mondo dei 400 |url=https://www.atleticalive.it/morta-maria-itkina-leterna-quarta-olimpica-e-4-volte-primatista-del-mondo-dei-400/ |access-date=2 December 2020 |work=Queen Atletica |date=1 December 2020 |language=it-IT}}</ref>
==See also== *List of select Jewish track and field athletes
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category}} *{{Sport links}}
{{s-start}} {{s-ach|rec}} {{succession box|before={{flagicon|URS}} Polina Lazareva|title=Women's 400 metres World Record Holder|years=8 June 1957 – 23 October 1962|after={{flagicon|PRK}} Shin Geum-Dan}} {{s-end}}
{{Footer European Champions 200 m Women}} {{Footer European Champions 400 m Women}} {{Footer European Champions 4x100 m Women}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Itkina, Maria Leontyavna}} Category:1932 births Category:2020 deaths Category:Soviet women sprinters Category:Soviet Jews Category:Sportspeople from Smolensk Category:Athletes from Minsk Category:Russian women sprinters Category:Belarusian women sprinters Category:Olympic athletes for the Soviet Union Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1956 Summer Olympics Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1960 Summer Olympics Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1964 Summer Olympics Category:Jewish competitors in the sport of athletics Category:European Athletics Championships medalists Category:Olympic women sprinters Category:Soviet Athletics Championships winners Category:20th-century Russian sportswomen