Svetlana Krivelyova


Svetlana Vladimirovna Krivelyova is a former track and field athlete who specialised in the shot put.

Career

Krivelyova was born in Bryansk, Russia. Her career highlights were the Summer Olympics gold medal in 1992 whilst representing the Unified Team where she beat the reigning world champion Huang Zhihong of China and her World Championship victory in 2003.
Her most unlikely victory came at the 2004 World Indoor Championships. She was awarded the gold medal after Ukraine's Vita Pavlysh was stripped of her title for failing a drug test. This was the second time Pavlysh was found to have taken anabolic steroids and lost a World indoor title; she was subsequently banned from athletics for life.
Despite being world ranked number 1 in the run up to the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, Krivelyova could only manage to finish fourth to match her finish at the 2000 Summer Olympics. However the winner, compatriot Irina Korzhanenko, tested positive for Stanozolol and was stripped of her title, promoting Krivelyova to the bronze medal position.
The IOC retested the samples from the 2004 Olympics and diagnosed a positive test. Krivelyova lost her third place to Nadzeya Ostapchuk. In April 2013, she was banned from competitions for two years.

Major international achievements (shot put)