PRESS, TAMARA; AND PRESS, IRINA

born May 10, 1937, Kharkov, Ukraine, U.S.S.R. born March 10, 1939, Kharkov Soviet athletes who combined to win five track-and-field Olympic gold medals during a career in which they set 26 world records. Tamara, who excelled in the weight events, won her first gold medal at the 1960 Olympics in Rome, setting an Olympic record with a shot put of 17.32 m (56 feet 10 inches). She won the silver medal in the discus (52.59 m [172 feet 6 1/2 inches]), and a week after the Olympics, she set a world record in the event (57.15 m [187 feet 6 inches]). Irina won a gold medal in Rome in the 80-metre hurdles, setting an Olympic record (10.6 sec) in the semifinals. Irina finished fourth in the 80-metre hurdles at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, but she won her second gold medal in the pentathlon, which was a women's event for the first time in the 1964 Games. Irina had the best time or distance in two of the five events, tallying 5,246 points to set a world record. Tamara set a pair of Olympic records in 1964, winning the gold medal in both the discus (57.27 m [187 feet 10 inches]) and the shot put (18.14 m [59 feet 6 1/4 inches]). The Press sisters did not participate in another Olympics after the Tokyo Games.