Bolșova Maslovskaia Valentina
Main achievement
4x100m relay. European champion Sweden 1958. Athlete. International Master of Sport. European champion 1958. Double USSR champion - 1966 and 1967.
About
Valentina Maslovskaia-Bolșova, born on January 30, 1937, in Odesa, was a remarkable Soviet athlete, specializing in sprints and hurdles, who represented the Soviet Union at the highest international competitions. Her career of over 15 years was marked by notable successes, including the gold medal in the 4×100 m relay at the 1958 European Athletics Championships in Stockholm, alongside teammates Vira Krepkina, Linda Kepp, and Nonna Poleakova, and the bronze in the same event at the 1966 edition in Budapest. At the 1960 Rome Olympic Games, she reached the semifinals in the 200 m and achieved 4th place in the 4×100 m relay, contributing to national and world records, such as the one in the 4×200 m relay set in 1963 in Moscow. Based in Chișinău in the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic, where she competed for the local club, Valentina was a multiple USSR national champion, winning titles in the 100m hurdles between 1965-1967 and the 60m indoor in 1967, as well as gold medals at the 1967 European Indoor Games in Prague in relay events. She participated in the European Championships in 1958, 1962, and 1966, demonstrating excellence in individual events such as the 100m, 200m, and hurdles, and surpassed Soviet Union records multiple times. Deeply connected to Moldavian athletics, she was one of the first athletes from the Moldavian SSR to be recognized at an Olympic level, alongside Gusman Kosanov, contributing to the region's sports history. Married to Soviet athlete Viktor Bolșov, whom she met at the Rome Olympics, the couple settled in Chișinău, where they raised their daughter, Olga Bolșova, a former Olympic athlete who represented the Republic of Moldova at four editions of the Olympic Games (1992-2004) in high jump and triple jump. Her granddaughter, Aliona Bolșova, became a Moldovan-Spanish professional tennis player. After the dissolution of the USSR, the family moved to Spain, where Valentina lived until her death on May 21, 2023, at the age of 86, in Palafrugell, leaving a sports legacy closely tied to the Republic of Moldova.
