Raisa Petrovna Smetanina is a former Soviet/Russian Nordic skiing champion. She is the first woman in history to win ten Winter Olympic medals. Smetanina took part in five Olympics, representing the USSR team four times and the Unified Team once. In particular, Smetanina won two gold and one silver medals at the 1976 Winter Olympics, becoming the most successful athlete there, along with Rosi Mittermaier of West Germany. In the 1992 Winter Olympics, at the age of thirty-nine, Smetanina won a further gold medal competing for the Unified Team in the 4�5 km, becoming the first woman to win ten Winter Olympic medals and at that time the oldest woman to win a Winter Olympic gold. Smetanina also had successes at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships, winning four golds 

February 29th, 1952 in Komi Republic (Age 72)