Olga Karasyova

Olga Karasyova (née Kharlova)
Karasyova in 1970
Personal information
Full name Olga Dmitryievna Karasyova-Kharlova
Country represented  Soviet Union
Born (1949-07-24) 24 July 1949
Bishkek, Soviet Union
Height 5 ft 4 in (1.63 m)
Weight 121 lb (55 kg)
Discipline Women's artistic gymnastics
Club CSKA Moscow
Head coach(es) Igor Zhuravlev
Assistant coach(es) Sofia Muratova
Retired 1972
Olympic medal record
Women's gymnastics
Representing the  Soviet Union
Olympic Games
1968 Mexico City Team
World Championships
1970 LjubljanaTeam
1970 LjubljanaFloor
1966 DortmundTeam
European Championships
1969 LandskronaFloor
1969 LandskronaAll-Around
1969 LandskronaUneven Bars
1969 LandskronaBeam
1969 LandskronaVault

Olga Karasyova, (born 24 July 1949) is a former Soviet gymnast who competed in the 1968 Summer Olympics.[1] Olga was coached by Igor Zhuravlev at CSKA Moscow. She was married to fellow gymnast Valery Karasyov, and studied French at the Pedagogical Institute.

In 1994, it was reported that Karasyova had told German television channel RTL she and her former team mates were forced to participate in abortion doping shortly before the 1968 Olympics, due to the supposed physical benefits of pregnancy. Girls who refused to have sex with their coaches were said to be removal from the team, and after ten weeks, the girls were forced to have an abortion. While rumours of such practices with Soviet, Scandinavian and East German female gymnasts had been around since the 1950s, no credible evidence had ever been given until Karasyova's disclosure.[2]

Several days later, however, it was discovered the woman who was interviewed was an impostor: Karasyova was actually on a sea cruise as the time, and had watched the broadcast. She sued for libel, and in 2000, the Moscow Ismail Court awarded her 35,000 roubles in damages.[1][3] Despite her legal victory, the original interviews attributed to her continue to be reported as facts by some third parties.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 "Olga Karasyova". Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on February 3, 2013.
  2. 1 2 Kasprak, Alex (December 5, 2017). "Is 'Abortion Doping' a Real Practice?". Snopes.com. Archived from the original on April 2, 2018.
  3. ↑ Golubev, Vladimir (March 7, 2001). "Олимпийская чемпионка разоблачает двойника". Viperson (in Russian). Archived from the original on April 3, 2018.


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