Mariya Pinigina

Mariya Dzhumabaevna Pinigina (Мария Джумабаевна Пинигина, née Kulchunova; born 9 February 1958 in Ivanovka, Kyrgyz SSR) is a former Olympic athlete who competed mainly in the 400 metres, training at Spartak in Kyiv. She represented the Soviet Union.

Pinigina competed for USSR in the 1988 Summer Olympics held in Seoul, South Korea in the 4 x 400 metres where she won the gold medal with her team mates 400m hurdles silver medalist Tatyana Ledovskaya, 400m bronze medalist Olga Nazarova and olympic 400m champion Olga Bryzgina. That USSR relay team set a new world record of 3:15.17 minutes which is still unbeaten.

She also won a bronze medal at the 1983 World Championships in Athletics.

In November 2013, she served as one of the torch bearers in Yakutsk for the 2014 Winter Olympics torch relay.

Mariya Pinigina is married to Olympic wrestling champion Pavel Pinigin.