Tetiana Petlyuk

Tetiana Hryhorivna Petlyuk or Tetiana Hryhorivna Petliuk (; born 22 February 1982) is a Ukrainian runner who specializes in the 800 metres. Her personal best time is 1:57.34 minutes, achieved in June 2006 in Kyiv. She has an indoor best of 1:58.67 minutes, set in 2007.

Petlyuk was a talented runner from a young age, winning a gold at the European Youth Olympic Festival, a silver at the 1999 World Youth Championships in Athletics, then a bronze at the 2001 European Athletics Junior Championships. She was Ukraine's best 800 m runner from 2004 to 2009, winning seven national titles over the period.

She represented Ukraine at the 2004 Athens Olympics and 2008 Beijing Olympics, reaching the semi-finals both times. She was also a semi-finalist at three World Championships in Athletics (2005, 2007, 2009). Her major medal wins came indoors: she was the runner-up at both the 2007 European Athletics Indoor Championships and the 2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships.

Abnormalities in her biological passport detected over the period from 18 August 2009 to February 2013 led to her receiving a two-year ban from the sport and the annulment of her results over that time (including two of her three appearances at the European Athletics Championships and her run at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics).

Career

Early career Born in Kiev, she enjoyed swimming and table tennis in her youth before moving onto track and field after beating boys in races at school. Her parents agreed to send her to a sports college in the capital in 1994. In her first international competition she won the 400 metres at the European Youth Olympic Festival in 1997. Further medals followed at the 1999 World Youth Championships in Athletics, where she was second to Georgie Clarke in the 800 metres and helped Ukraine to the bronze medal in the sprint medley relay. She began to focus on middle-distance events thereafter.

In 2000, she ran a personal best of 2:04.74 minutes for the 800 m and placed sixth in the event at the 2000 World Junior Championships in Athletics. In 2001, she gained entrance into Kyiv's National University of Physical Training and Sports – the top sports university in the country. At the 2001 European Athletics Junior Championships she was the bronze medallist but later reflected that she did not approach the competition professionally, having gone on a long shopping trip just hours before the final. Her outdoor opener of 1:57.34 minutes was her fastest that year. She was one of the favourites at the 2006 European Cup, but fell in the race and was sent to hospital with superficial injuries. She ran well at the 2006 European Athletics Championships, but was conservative in her tactics due to her previous fall: choosing not to run in the tightest lane, she ended up narrowly missing out on a medal and later investigation showed she had covered 817 m during the race.

Personal life She earned a master's degree in sports psychology at Kyiv's National University of Sports and Physical Culture in 2008.

Personal bests Outdoor 800 metres – 1:57.34 (2006) 1000 metres – 2:41.69 (2007) 1500 metres – 4:06.51 (2009)

Indoor 800 metres – 1:58.67 (2007) 1000 metres – 2:34.76 (2007) 1500 metres – 4:10.91 (2008)

Achievements