Galina Kulakova biography
Galina Kulakova, in full Galina Alekseyevna Kulakova, (born April 29, 1942, Logachi, Udmurtiya, U.S.S.R. [now in Russia]), Russian skier of Udmurt descent who captured all three gold medals in ladies’s Nordic snowboarding on the 1972 Olympic Games in Sapporo, Japan, and a complete of eight Olympic medals.
A member of 4 Soviet Olympic ski groups from 1964 to 1976, Kulakova was a nationwide champion from 1969 to 1971 and a world champion in 1969 and 1970. In 1968 on the Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France, Kulakova received a silver medal within the 5-km occasion and a bronze within the 3×5-km relay. At the 1972 Games she received gold medals in all three main Nordic occasions (the 5- and 10-km races and the three×5-km relay), and on the 1976 Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria, her relay crew proved victorious within the 4×5-km occasion, and he or she received a person bronze within the 10-km race. She would have additionally earned a bronze medal within the 5-km occasion that 12 months, however she was disqualified when officers found that ephedrine, a banned substance, was an ingredient in her nasal spray. She additionally competed on the 1980 Winter Games in Lake Placid, N.Y., U.S., the place she received a silver medal as a part of the Soviet 4×5-km relay crew.
Considered considered one of strongest feminine skiers of her time, Kulakova influenced youthful generations for a number of years as a coach with the Udmurt Sports Committee within the Soviet Union. She was awarded the International Olympic Committee Olympic Order in 1984.