Iryna Yatchenko

Medal record
Women's athletics
Competitor for Belarus
Olympic Games
Bronze	2000 Sydney	Discus
Bronze	2004 Athens	Discus
World Championships
Gold	2003 Paris	Discus

Iryna Vasiliyevna Yatchenko (Belarusian: Ірына Ятчанка, Russian: Ирина Ятченко; born October 31, 1965 in Gomel) is a Belarusian former discus thrower best known for winning two Olympic bronze medals at the 2000 Summer Olympics and 2004 Summer Olympics. She also became world champion at the 2003 World Championships in Athletics. Her personal best is 69.14 metres, achieved in July 2004 in Minsk.

Her career at the highest level of competition lasted almost twenty years, starting with the 1990 European Athletics Championships. She threw the discus at five editions of the Olympic Games, competing at all Games from the 1992 Barcelona Games to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Yatchenko's World Championship career was similarly extensive, as she took part on eight separate occasions.

Yatchenko's final major competition was the 2009 World Championships in Athletics, but she failed to register a valid throw in the qualifying rounds. She retired from international competition in June 2010 and the Belarus National Olympic Committee held a ceremony to honour her career. At the age of 44, she was one of the last athletes to retire who had previously represented the Soviet Union in international athletics.

Yatchenko is married to Igor Astapkovich, a hammer thrower.

Achievements

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Notes
Representing Soviet Union
1990	Goodwill Games	Seattle, United States	2nd	67.04 m
	European Championships	Split, Yugoslavia	5th	65.16 m
1991	World Championships	Tokyo, Japan	7th	64.92 m
Representing  Unified Team
1992	Olympic Games	Barcelona, Spain	7th	63.74 m
	IAAF Grand Prix Final	Turin, Italy	3rd	Second on season's points
Representing Belarus
1995	World Championships	Gothenburg, Sweden	9th	60.48 m
1996	Olympic Games	Atlanta, United States	12th	60.46 m
1997	World Championships	Athens, Greece	5th	62.58 m
1998	European Championships	Budapest, Hungary	8th	61.20 m
1999	World Championships	Seville, Spain	9th	62.99 m
2000	Olympic Games	Sydney, Australia	3rd	65.20 m
2001	World Championships	Edmonton, Canada	9th	59.45 m
2003	World Championships	Paris, France	1st	67.32 m
	World Athletics Final	Monte Carlo, Monaco	8th
2004	Olympic Games	Athens, Greece	3rd	66.17 m
	World Athletics Final	Monte Carlo, Monaco	3rd
2006	European Championships	Gothenburg, Sweden	10th	59.65 m
2007	World Championships	Paris, France	10th	62.63 m
2008	Olympic Games	Beijing, China	11th	59.27 m
2009	World Championships	Berlin, Germany	NM	No mark

References

• IAAF profile for Iryna Yatchenko

Sporting positions
Preceded by Natalya Sadova	Women's Discus Best Year Performance 2004	Succeeded by Vera Pospíšilová