Gulfiya Khanafeyeva

Who is Gulfiya Khanafeyeva?

Gulfiya Raifovna Khanafeyeva is a Russian hammer thrower of Tatar ethnicity.

Her international breakthrough came following her world record breaking throw of 77.26 metres from 12 June 2006 in Tula. She beat fellow Russian Tatyana Lysenko, however Lysenko threw 77.41 metres on 24 June in Zhukovskiy to regain the world record. Later in 2006 Khanafeyeva won a silver medal with 74.50 metres at the 2006 European Championships, her first international medal.

In 2007 Khanafeyeva improved to 77.36 m.

On 31 July 2008, Khanafeyeva was one of seven female Russian athletes suspended by the IAAF, due to doping test irregularities.

On 20 October 2008, it was announced that Khanafeyeva, along with 6 other Russian athletes would receive two-year doping bans for manipulating drug samples.