| Birth Date: | 30 June 1963 |
| Country: | |
| Sport: | Track and field |
| Event: | 4 × 400m relay |
Olha Bryzhina (Ukrainian: Ольга Бризгіна, maiden name Olga Arkad'evna Vladykina; Russian: Ольга Аркадьевна Владыкина; born June 30, 1963, in Krasnokamsk, Perm Oblast) is a retired athlete who represented Soviet Union (until 1991) and later Ukraine.
Bryzhina trained at Dynamo in Voroshilovgrad. Competing in the 400 metres and 4 x 400 metres relay, she was a particularly successful Olympian with three gold medals and one silver. At the 1988 Olympics the Soviet relay team set a new world record of 3:15.17 minutes which is still unbeaten (2022).[1] Bryzhina also became world champion in 1987.
Bryzhina successfully defeated Florence Griffith Joyner at the 1988 Seoul Olympics in the 4 × 400 m relay. Both runners ran the final leg of the relay and took the baton at about the same time. "Flo-Jo" ran a well paced race, chasing Bryzhina closely, and tried to challenge Bryzhina at the 300m point. However, the challenge from Flo-Jo was unsuccessful and Bryzhina won by a 4m margin, taking gold for the Soviet Union along with a new world record for the USSR team. Bryzhina's time of 47.7 seconds in the 1988 Olympic relay is one of the fastest relay legs ever run by a woman in the history of track and field.
Bryzhina's 400m personal best of 48.27 seconds is the women's 4th best result of all time in a laned 400m race.[2] She achieved this in the same race that Marita Koch set the current 400m world record of 47.60 seconds on 6 October 1985 at the Bruce Stadium in Canberra (Australia).[3] [2]
Bryzhina's husband Viktor Bryzhin was also a champion track athlete, winning gold in the 4 × 100 m relay event at the 1988 Olympics. Together they have two daughters, Yelizaveta Bryzhina and Anastasiia Bryzgina,[4] [5] [6] who are also a successful track runners (competing for Ukraine).
Bryzhina and her daughter Yelizaveta both had a best performance of 22.44 seconds over 200m as of December 2012.[7] [8]
| Representing | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | Friendship Games | Prague, Czechoslovakia | 3rd | 400 m | 49.52 | |
| 1985 | World Cup | Canberra, Australia | 2nd | 400 metres | 48.27 | |
| 1986 | European Championships | Stuttgart, Germany | 2nd | 400 metres | 49.67 | |
| DISQ | 4 × 400 m relay | |||||
| 1987 | Rome, Italy | 1st | 400 metres | 49.38 | ||
| 2nd | 4 × 400 m relay | 3:19.50 | ||||
| 1988 | Seoul, South Korea | 1st | 400 metres | 48.65 | ||
| 1st | 4 × 400 m relay | 3:15.17 WR | ||||
| 1991 | Tokyo, Japan | 4th | 400 metres | 49.82 | ||
| 4 × 400 m relay | 3:18.47 | |||||
| Representing | ||||||
| 1992 | European Indoor Championships | Genoa, Italy | bgcolor=silver | 2nd | 400 m | 51.48 |
| Barcelona, Spain | 2nd | 400 metres | 49.05 | |||
| 1st | 4 × 400 m relay | 3:20.20 | ||||