caption club birth_place weight height sport birth_date image article_title
smetanina on a 2013 russian coin vss urozhay , syktyvkar . mokhcha , komi assr , russia 53 kg lb on 1.62 m ftin on cross country skiing 29 february 1952 rr5110-0128r . jpg raisa smetanina

raisa smetanina

raisa petrovna smetanina -lrb- ; born 29 february 1952 -rrb- is a former soviet/russian nordic skiing champion .
she is the first woman in history to win ten winter olympic medals -lrb- stefania belmondo being the second -rrb- .
smetanina took part in five olympics , representing the ussr team four times and the unified team once .
in particular , smetanina won two gold and one silver medals at the 1976 winter olympics , becoming the most successful athlete there , along with rosi mittermaier of west germany .
in the 1992 winter olympics , at the age of thirty-nine , smetanina won a further gold medal competing for the unified team in the 4 × 5 km , becoming the first woman to win ten winter olympic medals and at that time the oldest woman to win a winter olympic gold .
smetanina also had successes at the fis nordic world ski championships , winning four golds -lrb- 20 km -lrb- 1982 -rrb- , and 4 × 5 km -lrb- 1974 , 1985 , and 1991 -rrb- , four silvers -lrb- 10 km -lrb- 1978 -rrb- , 20 km -lrb- 1978 -rrb- , and 4 × 5 km -lrb- 1982 , 1989 -rrb- -rrb- , and four bronzes -lrb- 4 × 5 km -lrb- 1978 -rrb- , 5 km -lrb- 1974 , 1978 -rrb- , and 20 km -lrb- 1980 -rrb- -rrb- .
she also won three times at the holmenkollen ski festival , once in the 10 km -lrb- 1975 -rrb- and twice in the 5 km -lrb- 1975 and 1979 -rrb- .
in 1979 , smetanina received the holmenkollen medal -lrb- shared with erik håker and ingemar stenmark -rrb- .
she was also awarded order of friendship of peoples -lrb- 1984 -rrb- .
smetanina always skied in the classical nordic style and refused to learn the faster skating technique that appeared in early 1980s .
