Margarita Ponomaryova

Ponomaryova was born in Balkhash, Kazakh SSR in the former Soviet Union. She began her international career by winning two medals at the 1981 European Junior Championships.

In 1984, she made a dramatic improvement in the 400 metres hurdles to break the world record with 53.58 secs on 22 June in Kiev, to become the first woman to run below 54 seconds for the event. She was prevented from competing in that years Los Angeles Olympics due to the Soviet boycott.

1984 proved to be the only year where Ponomaryova would be the world's number one 400 m hurdler, however her international career would continue for another decade. In 1985, now competing as Margarita Khromova, she finished sixth in the World Cup in Canberra. In 1986, she reached the European Championship final in Stuttgart, placing eighth. The following year she was a semi-finalist at the World Championships in Rome, narrowly missing the final.

Having failed to make the 1988 Seoul Olympics, she won her biggest individual title when winning at the 1989 World Student Games (Universiade). In 1990, (as Margarita Ponomaryova), she finished fifth in the European Championship final in Split. She won the 1991 European Cup ahead of Sally Gunnell, before finishing eighth later that year in the World Championship final in Tokyo.

Ponomaryova represented the Unified team at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. In the semi-finals she ran 53.98 sec, to qualify for the final as the third fastest. However, in the final she only managed 54.83 to finish sixth. At the following years World Championships in Stuttgart, she reached her peak running 53.48 sec to win the bronze medal. This was her first (and only) individual medal at Olympic or World Championship level. The race was won by Sally Gunnell in a then world record of 52.74. Ponomaryova also won a silver medal in the 4x400 metres relay.

• Margarita Ponomaryova at World Athletics