Tetyana Dorovskikh

Tetyana Apaycheva (née Khamitova, Divorced Samolenko and Dorovskykh, , born 12 August 1961) is a Ukrainian retired middle-distance runner who represented the Soviet Union until 1991, the Unified Team in 1992, and later Ukraine. She is the 1988 Olympic champion in the 3000 metres.

Career As Tetyana Samolenko, she was the leading female middle-distance runner of the late 1980s. She was the 1988 Olympic champion at 3000 metres, the 1987 World champion at both 1500 metres and 3000 metres, and the 1987 World Indoor champion at 3000 metres. At 1500m, she also won Olympic bronze (1988), World Indoor silver (1987), European silver (1986) and the 1986 Goodwill Games title.

After giving birth in 1990, she returned to competition in 1991 competing as Tetyana Dorovskikh, and retained her World title at 3000 metres. She also won a silver medal in the 1500 metres final behind Hassiba Boulmerka. Her last major competition was the 1992 Olympic Games, where she won a silver medal in the 3000 metres and finished fourth in the 1500 metres final.

Her previous performances were impugned when she tested positive for drug use in June 1993, which effectively brought an end to her career.

Personal life

She was born in a village called Sekretarka in Severny District, Orenburg Oblast, Russia, and grew up in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, a city receiving intense shelling by Russian forces since the 2022 invasion. Her second husband was the race walker Viktor Dorovskikh. Her third husband is the former Olympic decathlete Oleksandr Apaychev.

Personal bests 800 metres - 1:58.56 - Donetsk 1985 1500 metres - 3:57.92 - Barcelona 1992 3000 metres - 8:26.53 - Seoul 1988

International competitions