Nina Dumbadze

Life and work

The story behind the role.

Athletics competitor (1919–1983).

Nina Yakovlevna Dumbadze (Georgian: ნინო დუმბაძე; 23 May 1919 – 14 April 1983) was a discus thrower who represented the Soviet Union. She won the European title in 1946 and 1950, and a bronze medal at the 1952 Olympics. Dumbadze was born in Odessa to a Georgian father. She later moved to Tbilisi, Georgia, where she started training in athletics in 1937. Two years later at the Soviet championships she threw 49.11 m and broke the Gisela Mauermayer's world record of 48.31 m. Dumbadze kept breaking world records during World War II, and a week after the 1946 European Championships threw 50.50 m in Sarpsborg, Norway. In August 1948, she threw 53.25 m in Moscow. She set two more ratified world records: in May 1951 in Gori (53.37 m), and in October 1952 in Tbilisi (57.04 m). By that time she had a strong competition from teammates Nina Romashkova and Yelizaveta Bagryantseva, and hence placed third at the 1952 Olympics. Earlier she won eight Soviet titles, in 1939, 1943–44 and 1946–50. After retiring from competitions Dumbadze worked as an athletics coach together with her husband Boris Dyachkov, who trained the Georgian athletics team for almost five decades. Their son Yuri Dyachkov became an Olympic decathlete.

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