Nationality Ukrainian Role Olympic athlete Turned pro 1987 Name Vita Pavlysh Retired 2004 | Event(s) Shot put Weight 85 kg Sport Athletics Height 1.74 m | |
 | ||
Native name Vіktoҏіya anatolіїvna Pavpish Full name Viktoriya Anatoliivna Pavlysh Country Soviet Union (1987-1991)Unified Team (1992)Ukraine (1993-2004) | ||
Viktoriya Anatoliïvna Pavlysh (Ukrainian: Вікторія Анатопіївна Павпиш; born January 15, 1969 in Kharkov, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union) is a former track and field athlete who specialized in the shot put.
Pavlysh was stripped of her 1999 IAAF World Indoor Championships gold medal after she had tested positive for anabolic steroid stanozolol at the event in Maebashi, Japan. She claimed that she may have taken the drug to aid her recovery from injury. For this offence she received a two-year ban.
Five years later at the 2004 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Budapest, Hungary she won the title again only to fail the drug test for the same reason. She was again stripped of her title and banned from athletics for life.
Whether because of her drug-use or not, Pavlysh was famed for her very muscular lower body. During a state television show her middle-thigh was measured at 98 cm and her calf at 65 cm.