Tamara Natanovna Press^{[nb 1]} (10 May 1937 – 26 April 2021)^[1] was a Soviet athlete who dominated the shot put and discus throw in the early 1960s. She won three gold medals and one silver medal at the 1960 and 1964 Olympics and three European titles in 1958–1962. Between 1959 and 1965, she set 11 world records: five in the shot put and six in the discus. Domestically, she held 16 national titles, nine in the shot put (1958–66) and seven in the discus (1960–66).^[2]

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Tamara Press

Tamara Press at the 1964 Olympics
Personal information
Born	(1937-05-10)10 May 1937 Kharkov, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
Died	26 April 2021(2021-04-26) (aged 83) Moscow, Russia
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Weight	102 kg (225 lb)
Sport
Sport	Shot put, discus throw
Club	Trud St. Petersburg
Medal record Representing  Soviet Union Olympic Games 1960 Rome Shot put 1964 Tokyo Shot put 1964 Tokyo Discus throw 1960 Rome Discus throw European Championships 1958 Stockholm Discus throw 1962 Belgrade Shot put 1962 Belgrade Discus throw 1958 Stockholm Shot put Universiade 1961 Sofia Discus throw 1963 Porto Alegre Discus throw

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Her younger sister Irina Press was also a prominent track athlete, mostly in the sprint events.^[3]

Tamara Press was born to parents in Kharkov. Her father died fighting in World War II in 1942, while her mother took the daughters to Samarkand, where they started training in athletics.^[4][5] In 1955, Press moved to Leningrad to train under the renowned coach Viktor Alekseyev. Next year, she was shortlisted for the Olympic team, but was cut due to a strong domestic competition in the throwing events.^[6][7] She subsequently won four Olympic medals, three of them gold.

Both sisters were accused of being either secretly male or intersex.^[4][8][9] They retired in 1966, just before sex verification became mandatory on location.^[10] In 1942 wartime Soviet evacuation records (at age 5) Tamara Press is documented as a girl.^[11]

In retirement, Press worked as an athletics coach and official in Moscow.^[3] She wrote several books on sport, social and economical subjects. In 1974, she defended a PhD in pedagogy.^[2] She was awarded the Order of Lenin (1960), Order of the Badge of Honour (1964) and Order of Friendship (1997).^[6][12]