2008–15

She placed fourth in the 2008 Beijing Games, after losing to American Sada Jacobson 11-15 in the semifinals, and then losing to American Rebecca Ward 14-15 in the bronze medal match.^[4] On 12 October 2011, she became the world champion after beating two-time Olympic champion American Mariel Zagunis in the final. One year after, she took part in the Summer Olympics in London, where she advanced to finals after defeating Olga Kharlan of Ukraine. Velikaya lost however to South Korea's Kim Ji-yeon, 9-15, and received silver.^[4]

Velikaya then took a break in her career.^[5] She gave birth to a son, with Olympic wrestler Aleksey Mishin. She came back to international competition in March 2014 at the Antalya World Cup, where she was defeated in the second round by Hungary's Anna Várhelyi.^[6] At the European Championships in Strasbourg, she was stopped in the second round again, this time by Italy's Rossella Gregorio. In the team event, Russia met France in the final, and won the gold medal.^[7] At the World Championships in Kazan Velikaya made her way to the quarter-finals, where she met reigning World champion Olga Kharlan of Ukraine. Velikaya was defeated 9–15.^[8] In the team event, Russia met France in the quarter-finals. Russia suffered a shock 41–45 defeat.^[9]

In the 2014–15 season, Velikaya won the first event in Cancún after defeating France's Charlotte Lembach in the final.^[10] She placed second with Russia in the team event.^{[citation needed]} In Orléans, she put an end to the invincibility of the world no.1 Olga Kharlan, who had not taken part in the Cancún tournament. Velikaya proceeded to the final where she defeated Italy's Rossella Gregorio and earned her second gold medal in a row.^[11] In the team event, Russia saw off the United States in the final to win team gold. Velikaya reached again the final in the New York Grand Prix. She met Kharlan, who defeated her 15–12, dooming her the silver medal.^[12] The same scenario played out in Athens at the first World Cup event of 2015, Velikaya losing by a single hit that time.^[13] In the team event, Russia fenced Ukraine in the final. Russia lost ground in the penultimate relay, which ended on 33–40. Velikaya lost 2–5 the final relay against Kharlan and came away with a second silver medal.^[14] At the Ghent World Cup, she defeated Kharlan 15–3 in the semi-finals, then Zagunis 15–10 in the final, to take her third gold medal of the season.^[15]

2016–19

Velikaya qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. In women's sabre in the table of 32 she defeated Bogna Jóźwiak from Poland. In the table of 16, quarter-finals and semi-finals, she prevailed over Charlotte Lembach, Cécilia Berder and Manon Brunet of France, respectively.^[16] She eventually lost 14–15 to her teammate Yana Egorian in the finals, winning her second consecutive silver medal at the Olympics in the individual women's sabre. Velikaya finally managed to claim Olympic gold a few days later in the team event. Russia defeated Mexico (45–31) in the quarter-finals, prevailed over the USA (45–42) in the semi-finals and met the Ukrainians in the final. Velikaya and her teammates came away with the gold medal, defeating Ukraine 45–30.^[17]

Velikaya dedicated her squad's 2016 Olympic gold medal to those Russians who had been banned for doping.^[18]

On 17 November 2016, Velikaya was elected the head of the Russian Olympic Committee Athletes' Commission.^[19][20]

2020–present

In April 2022, she said she would boycott the Olympics if she is not allowed to compete under the Russian flag and anthem.^[21] Velikaya was not among the Russian athletes reinstated by the FIE in May 2023, due to her ties with the Russian Army.^[22]

In January 2024, the Russian state-owned new agency TASS reported that Velikaya was included in the list of proxies of presidential candidate Vladimir Putin in the 2024 Russian presidential election.^[23] By law, self-nominated candidates such as Putin are allowed to have proxies who campaign in their favor.^[23]

In February 2024, Velikaya commented on three fellow Russian Olympic fencers who had escaped from Russia to the United States, Tokyo Olympics épée silver medalist Sergey Bida, his wife Violetta Bida, and sabre fencer Konstantin Lokhanov.^[24][25] She said: "This is absolutely their right, this is their life. I'm sitting at home."^[24][25]

Olympic Games

More information Year, Location ...

Year	Location	Event	Position
2012	London, United Kingdom	Individual Women's Sabre	2nd[26]
2016	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	Individual Women's Sabre	2nd[27]
2016	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	Team Women's Sabre	1st[28]
2021	Tokyo, Japan	Individual Women's Sabre	2nd[29]
2021	Tokyo, Japan	Team Women's Sabre	1st[30]

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World Championship

More information Year, Location ...

Year	Location	Event	Position
2004	New York, New York	Team Women's Sabre	1st[31]
2005	Leipzig, Germany	Individual Women's Sabre	2nd[32]
2005	Leipzig, Germany	Team Women's Sabre	2nd[33]
2006	Turin, Italy	Team Women's Sabre	3rd[34]
2007	St. Petersburg, Russia	Team Women's Sabre	3rd[35]
2010	Paris, France	Individual Women's Sabre	3rd[36]
2010	Paris, France	Team Women's Sabre	1st[37]
2011	Catania, Italy	Individual Women's Sabre	1st[38]
2011	Catania, Italy	Team Women's Sabre	1st[39]
2012	Kyiv, Ukraine	Team Women's Sabre	1st[40]
2015	Moscow, Russia	Individual Women's Sabre	1st[41]
2015	Moscow, Russia	Team Women's Sabre	1st[42]
2018	Wuxi, China	Individual Women's Sabre	2nd[43]
2018	Wuxi, China	Team Women's Sabre	2nd[44]
2019	Budapest, Hungary	Individual Women's Sabre	2nd[45]
2019	Budapest, Hungary	Team Women's Sabre	1st[46]

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European Championship

More information Year, Location ...

Year	Location	Event	Position
2007	Ghent, Belgium	Individual Women's Sabre	2nd[47]
2007	Ghent, Belgium	Team Women's Sabre	3rd[48]
2008	Kyiv, Ukraine	Individual Women's Sabre	1st[49]
2009	Plovdiv, Bulgaria	Team Women's Sabre	2nd[50]
2010	Leipzig, Germany	Individual Women's Sabre	2nd[51]
2010	Leipzig, Germany	Team Women's Sabre	2nd[52]
2011	Sheffield, United Kingdom	Team Women's Sabre	3rd[53]
2012	Legnano, Italy	Team Women's Sabre	1st[54]
2014	Strasbourg, France	Team Women's Sabre	1st[55]
2015	Montreux, Switzerland	Individual Women's Sabre	1st[56]
2015	Montreux, Switzerland	Team Women's Sabre	1st[57]
2016	Toruń, Poland	Individual Women's Sabre	1st[58]
2016	Toruń, Poland	Team Women's Sabre	1st[59]
2018	Novi Sad, Serbia	Individual Women's Sabre	1st[60]
2018	Novi Sad, Serbia	Team Women's Sabre	1st[61]
2019	Düsseldorf, Germany	Individual Women's Sabre	3rd[62]
2019	Düsseldorf, Germany	Team Women's Sabre	1st[63]

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Grand Prix

More information Date, Location ...

Date	Location	Event	Position
2003-03-14	Foggia, Italy	Individual Women's Sabre	3rd[64]
2004-03-20	Moscow, Russia	Individual Women's Sabre	2nd[65]
2004-06-12	New York, New York	Individual Women's Sabre	2nd[66]
2005-03-18	Moscow, Russia	Individual Women's Sabre	3rd[67]
2006-02-24	Budapest, Hungary	Individual Women's Sabre	1st[68]
2006-03-17	Moscow, Russia	Individual Women's Sabre	2nd[69]
2009-02-06	Orléans, France	Individual Women's Sabre	3rd[70]
2009-02-15	Moscow, Russia	Individual Women's Sabre	2nd[71]
2009-05-29	Tianjin, China	Individual Women's Sabre	1st[72]
2010-02-14	Moscow, Russia	Individual Women's Sabre	3rd[73]
2010-03-19	Tunis, Tunisia	Individual Women's Sabre	3rd[74]
2011-02-11	Orléans, France	Individual Women's Sabre	3rd[75]
2011-03-26	Moscow, Russia	Individual Women's Sabre	1st[76]
2012-02-10	Orléans, France	Individual Women's Sabre	2nd[77]
2012-03-16	Moscow, Russia	Individual Women's Sabre	1st[78]
2013-03-22	Moscow, Russia	Individual Women's Sabre	2nd[79]
2014-12-13	New York, New York	Individual Women's Sabre	2nd[80]
2015-03-28	Seoul, South Korea	Individual Women's Sabre	3rd[81]
2015-05-29	Moscow, Russia	Individual Women's Sabre	3rd[82]
2015-12-12	Boston, Massachusetts	Individual Women's Sabre	3rd[83]
2016-03-25	Seoul, South Korea	Individual Women's Sabre	3rd[84]
2018-05-12	Moscow, Russia	Individual Women's Sabre	1st[85]
2019-02-22	Cairo, Egypt	Individual Women's Sabre	1st[86]
2019-05-24	Moscow, Russia	Individual Women's Sabre	1st[87]

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World Cup

More information Date, Location ...

Date	Location	Event	Position
2006-05-13	Ghent, Belgium	Individual Women's Sabre	3rd[88]
2008-02-16	Moscow, Russia	Individual Women's Sabre	3rd[89]
2010-06-18	New York, New York	Individual Women's Sabre	3rd[90]
2011-02-25	London, United Kingdom	Individual Women's Sabre	3rd[91]
2011-06-24	New York, New York	Individual Women's Sabre	1st[92]
2012-02-24	London, United Kingdom	Individual Women's Sabre	2nd[93]
2012-05-04	Bologna, Italy	Individual Women's Sabre	1st[94]
2014-11-01	Margarita Island, Venezuela	Individual Women's Sabre	1st[95]
2014-11-21	Orléans, France	Individual Women's Sabre	1st[96]
2015-01-30	Athens, Greece	Individual Women's Sabre	2nd[97]
2015-02-20	Ghent, Belgium	Individual Women's Sabre	1st[98]
2015-05-01	Beijing, China	Individual Women's Sabre	1st[99]
2016-01-29	Athens, Greece	Individual Women's Sabre	2nd[100]
2016-02-19	Sint-Niklaas, Belgium	Individual Women's Sabre	3rd[101]
2019-01-25	Salt Lake City, Utah	Individual Women's Sabre	3rd[102]
2019-05-10	Tunis, Tunisia	Individual Women's Sabre	1st[103]

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