Back to the Olympics Newsfeed

Tamara Press, Olympian Whose Feats Raised Questions, Dies at 83

Tamara Press, a dominant Soviet shot-putter and discus thrower who won three Olympic gold medals in the 1960s but was the focus of speculation about her gender because of her physique, died on April 26. She was 83.

Her death was announced by the Russian Ministry of Sport, which did not specify where she died or cite the cause.

Press, who was 5-foot-11 and 225 pounds, began to attract international notice in 1958, when she won the gold medal in the discus and the bronze in the shot-put at the European Athletic Championships in Stockholm.