Vera Krepkina

Who is Vera Krepkina?

Vera Samuilovna Krepkina is a retired Russian athlete who competed for the Soviet Union.

She is Jewish, and was born in Kotelnich. She trained in Vologda and later in Kiev at Lokomotiv.

In 1954 at Bern, she a won gold medal in the European championships 4x100-meter relay, with Maria Leontyavna Itkina and two other Soviet runners. In 1956, she was part of a team from the USSR that set a world record in the same race.

In 1958, she matched the world record in the 100 meter dash, running it in 11.3 seconds.

Krepkina competed for the USSR in the 1960 Summer Olympics held in Rome, Italy. Better known as a sprinter, she won a surprise gold in the Long Jump with an Olympic record of 6.37, ahead of the defending champion Elżbieta Krzesińska and the world record holder Hildrun Claus.

Krepkina was awarded Order of Lenin.