Irina Kalinina

Irina Vladimirovna Kalinina (Russian Ирина Владимировна Калинина; born February 8, 1959 in Penza) is a former Soviet water jumper. She participated in two Olympic Games, winning a gold medal. She was one of the outstanding jumpers of the 1970s.

Career

Irina Kalinina won at the World Swimming Championships, 1973 World Swimming Championships in 1975 and the World Swimming Championships in 1978 a total of five world titles. However, in the Summer Olympic Games in Montreal in 1976, she experienced a disappointment. At the age of 17, she reached there from the three- meter board only seventh. From the ten-meter tower she missed fourth place behind Jelena Waizechowskaja, Ulrika Knape and Deborah Wilson also a medal, although she had chosen the jumps with the highest levels of difficulty. 1979 moved Kalinina to Moscow to study sport. Her coach, Boris Klintschenko, accompanied her. At the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, she won the three- meter springboard gold medal ahead of Martina Pröber and Karin Guthke, both of which came from the German Democratic Republic. 1981 ended Irina Kalinina her athletic career with bronze from the board at the European Swimming Championships.