Natalya Antyukh

Natalya Antyukh

Antyukh after winning the 400 m hurdles at the 2010 European Championships
Personal information
Nationality	Russian
Born	26 June 1981 Leningrad, RSFSR, USSR, (now St. Petersburg, Russia)
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight	69 kg (152 lb)
Sport
Country	Russia
Sport	Athletics
Event(s)	400 m hurdles 400 metres
Club	Dynamo
Medal record Women's athletics Representing Russia Olympic Games Disqualified 2012 London 400 m hurdles 2004 Athens 4×400 m relay Disqualified 2012 London 4×400 m relay 2004 Athens 400 m World Championships 2005 Helsinki 4×400 m relay Disqualified 2013 Moscow 4×400 m relay 2009 Berlin 4×400 m relay 2011 Daegu 400 m hurdles 2011 Daegu 4×400 m relay World Indoor Championships 2003 Birmingham 4×400 m relay 2004 Budapest 4×400 m relay 2006 Moscow 4×400 m relay European Championships 2010 Barcelona 400 m hurdles 2002 Munich 4×400 m relay European Indoor Championships 2002 Vienna 400 m 2009 Turin 4×400 m relay 2007 Birmingham 4×400 m relay
Updated on 24 October 2022.

Natalya Nikolayevna Antyukh (Russian: Наталья Николаевна Антюх, born 26 June 1981) is a Russian sprinter who specializes in the 400 metres and 400 metres hurdles. She won the bronze medal in the 400 metres and a silver for the 4 × 400 m relay at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.

She is currently serving a four-year suspension from 2021 to 2025 for anti-doping rule violations. Her results from 15 July 2012 onwards had been disqualified, including her 2012 Olympic gold medal in the 400 metres hurdles.

According to World Athletics, she last competed in 2016.

Background

Her younger brother Kirill Antyukh is a former competitive sprinter, who turned to bobsleigh, and was part of the reserve Russian squad for the 2014 Winter Olympics.

Career

2004: Double Olympic medalist at 23 years old

Leading up to the 2004 Summer Olympics, Antyukh achieved a personal best time of 49.85 seconds in the 400 metres at the year's Russian Championships in Tula to place second. At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, she won the bronze medal in the 400 metres with a time of 49.89 seconds, which was 0.48 seconds slower than gold medalist Tonique Williams-Darling of the Bahamas. Four days later, she won the silver medal for the 4×400 m relay with a final relay time of 3:20.16. Six years later, at the 2010 European Championships in Barcelona, Spain, she won the gold medal in the 400 metre hurdles with a personal best time of 52.92 seconds.

2012: Olympic champion at 31 years old

On 8 August 2012, Antyukh, then 31 years old, won the gold medal in the 400 metres hurdles at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, with a personal best time of 52.70 seconds. Three days later, she won the silver medal for the 4×400 m relay, helping finish in a time of 3 minutes, 20.23 seconds. She received the Russian Order of Honour after the Olympics for her performances.

2016: Teammate disqualified, stripped of her 2012 Olympic silver medal

In 2016, Antyukh's silver medal in the 4×400 m relay from the 2012 Olympic Games was stripped, with medals reallocated to relay teams from Jamaica (silver) and Ukraine (bronze), after teammate Antonina Krivoshapka had her results from the event disqualified. In 2019, all Russians, including Antyukh, were banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency from competing in international track and field events representing Russia for a four year period.

2020–2025: Disqualified, stripped of her 2012 Olympic gold medal

In 2020, Antyukh was among four Russian track and field athletes charged with doping offences, facing charges of using a prohibited substance or method. The Athletics Integrity Unit said the cases were based on an investigation into Russian doping for the World Anti-Doping Agency presented in 2016 by Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren. Her ban was confirmed on 7 April 2021 by the Court of Arbitration for Sport when she was suspended from athletics for four years, to 2025, with all her results from 30 June 2013 onwards disqualified. In October 2022, more than 10 years and 2 months after the race, her results from July 2012 to June 2013 were disqualified, stripping her of the gold medal in the 400 m hurdles at the 2012 Summer Olympics, with the new recipient being the former silver medalist, American Lashinda Demus.

The stripping of her gold medal marked the attainment of stripping all Russians who won a gold medal in track at the 2012 Summer Olympics of their gold medal(s).

In addition to being banned for anti-doping rule violations, Antyukh, along with all other Russian and Belarusian athletes, was subjected to another ban starting 1 March 2022, which excluded her from all World Athletics competitions with no communicated end date and was implemented in response to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, part of the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War that began in 2014.

Achievements

All information from World Athletics profile.

International competitions

Personal bests

• 200 metres – 22.75 (-0.2 m/s, Tula 2004)
• 400 metres – 49.85 (Tula 2004)
  • 400 metres indoor – 50.37 (Moscow 2006)
• 400 m hurdles – 52.92 (Barcelona 2010)

See also

• List of doping cases in athletics
• List of Olympic medalists in athletics (women)
• List of 2004 Summer Olympics medal winners
• List of World Athletics Championships medalists (women)
• List of European Athletics Championships medalists (women)
• List of European Athletics Indoor Championships medalists (women)
• 400 metres at the Olympics
• 400 metres hurdles at the Olympics
• 4 × 400 metres relay at the Olympics
• 400 metres hurdles at the World Championships in Athletics
• 4 × 400 metres relay at the World Championships in Athletics
• List of people from Saint Petersburg
• List of Russian sportspeople