| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Women'sathletics | ||
Representing the Soviet Union | ||
| World Championships | ||
 | 1987 Rome | 4×100 m relay |
| European Championships | ||
| 1986 Stuttgart | 4×100 m relay |
| Summer Universiade | ||
 | 1985 Kobe | 100 m |
 | 1985 Kobe | 4 x 100 m relay |
| 1987 Zagreb | 4 x 100 m relay |
| 1987 Zagreb | 100 m |
| 1985 Kobe | 200 m |
| Goodwill Games | ||
| 1986 Moscow | 4×100 m relay |
Representing Ukraine | ||
| 1994 Saint Petersburg | 4 x 100 metres |
| European Cup | ||
| Representing Ukraine | ||
| 1994 Birmingham | 4 x 100 metres |
Irina Slyusar (Ukrainian:Ірина Слюсар; born 19 March 1963) is a SovietUkrainian formertrack and fieldsprinter. She represented the Soviet Union at theWorld Championships in Athletics in 1987 and 1991 – she was a relay bronze medallist on her debut, but was disqualified for doping on her second appearance. She was twice Soviet national champion in the100 metres.
Slyusar was theUniversiade 100 m champion in 1985 and won four further sprint medals at the competition in the following two years. She competed at theEuropean Athletics Championships for the Soviet Union in 1986 (running the heats for their bronze medal-winning team) and also for Ukraine at the 1994 edition (helping the new nation to fourth in the relay with her twin sisterAntonina Slyusar).
Born inDniprodzerzhynsk,Ukrainian SSR, she first came to prominence at the age of 21 when she won the100 metres title at theSoviet Athletics Championships in 1984 (shared in a dead heat withNatalya Pomoshchnikova).[1] Her first international title followed the next year, as she won the 100 m gold medal at the1985 Universiade. She won a medal of each colour at that tournament, through a200 metres bronze and a4×100 metres relay silver medal.[2] Her 100 m winning time of 11.11 ranked her in the top ten athletes in the world for the distance that year.[3]
Slyusar won two national titles in 1986: first she recorded 7.22 seconds to win the60 metres at theSoviet Indoor Athletics Championships, then she had her second career win in the 100 m at the national outdoor championships.[1][4] She made two appearances at international competitions that year. First she ran at theGoodwill Games inMoscow (a major sports encounter between the Soviet Union and United States during theCold War period) she placed fifth in the individual 100 m then teamed up withOlga Zolotaryova,Maia Azarashvili andElvira Barbashina to claim the 4 × 100 m relay silver medal behind the American women.[5] A month later she represented the Soviet Union at the1986 European Athletics Championships. She was a 100 m semi-finalist and was the relay alternate, helping her nation through the heats alongside Zolotaryova,Antonina Nastoburko andNatalya Bochina, before being switched forMarina Zhirova for the final, where the Soviet Union claimed the bronze medal.[6]
At the1987 Universiade she returned to defend her 100 m title but was beaten into second place by AmericanGwen Torrence. The American women also got the better of the Soviet team in the Universiade relay that year.[2] Slyusar made her senior global debut at the1987 World Championships in Athletics and was selected for both the individual and relay events. In the 100 m she was among the fastest qualifiers in the first round, but gradually weakened as the event progressed and was eighth in her semi-final.[7]
She had 100 m season's bests of 11.17 in 1990 then 11.26 seconds in 1991.[3] The1991 World Championships in Athletics marked her second outing at the global level, and she again reached the semi-final stage of the 100 m. However, she was banned for three months from the sport after giving a positive doping test forstrychnine – this was an unusual substance to be banned for, as it had largely fallen out of use after the early 20th century.[8][9] Slyusar became only the sixth athlete to be disqualified fordoping at the World Championships in Athletics, and the first from the Soviet Union.[10]
Her doping ban fell at the end of the track and field season, so largely did not affect her schedule. Slyusar set a lifetime best of 11.05 seconds in the 100 m inKyiv in 1992.[3] With theDissolution of the Soviet Union, she opted to represent her native Ukraine internationally.[11] At the newly establishedUkrainian Athletics Championships she became the first woman to claim a 100/200 m sprint double in 1993 (a feat matched byAnzhela Kravchenko shortly after).[12]
She had her last year of international competition in 1994, at the age of 31. At the1994 Goodwill Games inSaint Petersburg she formed a Ukrainian relay quartet with Kravchenko,Viktoriya Fomenko and her twin sisterAntonina Slyusar. The team took the bronze medal behind the United States and Cuba (the Russian women were disqualified).[13] In her only individual outing for Ukraine, she was a 100 m quarter-finalist at the1994 European Athletics Championships. She teamed up with her twin sister for the relay and with Fomenko andZhanna Tarnopolskaya the Ukrainian women took fourth place.[14] This marked the end of her international career.
| Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Event | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Representing the Soviet Union | |||||
| 1985 | Universiade | Kobe, Japan | 1st | 100 m | 11.22 |
| 3rd | 200 m | 22.86 | |||
| 2nd | 4 × 100 m relay | 43.43 | |||
| 1986 | Goodwill Games | Moscow, Soviet Union | 5th | 100 m | 11.22 |
| 2nd | 4 × 100 m relay | 42.27 | |||
| European Championships | Stuttgart, West Germany | 11th (sf) | 100 m | 11.3511.35(wind: +1.2 m/s) | |
| 3rd[15] | 4 × 100 m relay | 43.78 (heats) | |||
| 1987 | Universiade | Zagreb, Yugoslavia | 2nd | 100 m | 11.34 |
| 2nd | 4 × 100 m relay | 43.17 | |||
| World Championships | Rome, Italy | 8th (semis) | 100 m | 11.44 | |
| 3rd | 4 × 100 m relay | 42.33 | |||
| 1991 | World Championships | Tokyo, Japan | 6th (semis) | 100 m | 11.42 |
| Representing Ukraine | |||||
| 1994 | Goodwill Games | Saint Petersburg, Russia | 3rd | 4 × 100 m relay | 43.86 |
| European Championships | Helsinki, Finland | 19th (qf) | 100 m | 11.62(wind: +0.3 m/s) | |
| 4th | 4 × 100 m relay | 43.61 | |||
