 Lyudmila Bragina in 1972 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Birth name | Lyudmila Ivanovna Bragina | |||||||||||||||||
| Born | 24 July 1943 (age 80) Sverdlovsk, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union | |||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.65 m (5 ft 5 in) | |||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 57 kg (126 lb) | |||||||||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Athletics | |||||||||||||||||
| Event(s) | 1500 m, 3000 m | |||||||||||||||||
| Club | Dynamo Krasnodar | |||||||||||||||||
| Achievements and titles | ||||||||||||||||||
| Personal best(s) | 1500 m – 4:01.38 (1972) 3000 m – 8:27.12 (1976) | |||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Lyudmila Ivanovna Bragina (Russian: Людмила Ивановна Брагина, born 24 July 1943) is a retired Soviet and Russian middle distance runner. She competed for the Soviet Union in the 1500 m at the 1972 and 1976 Olympics; she won the event in 1972 and finished fifth in 1976. In July 1972 she set a new 1500 m world record of 4:06.9, at the Soviet championships, and then progressively improved it in round 1 (4:06.47), the semi-finals (4:05.07}, and the final (4:01.38), of the 1972 Olympics.[1][2] The same year she was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labour. She also set three world records in the 3000 m: 8:53.0 in 1972, 8:52.74 in 1974 and 8:27.12 in 1976.[3] At the European Championships, Bragina won four silver medals: in the 3,000 m outdoors (1974), and in the 800 m (1970) and 1,500 m indoors (1971–72).[1]
In 1960 Bragina started training in the high jump, and changed to running only in 1964. She had a career-threatening bout of pneumonia in 1966. After recovering she moved to the south of Russia, in Krasnodar,[4] where she later worked as an athletics coach.[1]
