Valentina Gerasimova

Valentina Gerasimova is a retired Soviet era track and field athlete specializing in middle distances. She competed in the 1976 Olympics. She entered the event as the world record holder, having run a 1:56.0 in Kiev just a month earlier in qualifying for the Olympics. That time was a second and a half improvement on the previous record set by Bulgarian Svetla Zlateva and proved to be her personal best in the event.