She is an athlete who earned the Russian title of “Master of Sports of International Class,” a winner of multiple major marathons in the United States who served a suspension in 2007-2009 for use of performance-enhancing drugs.
At the 1996 Russian Open Marathon Championship in Moscow, she became a bronze medalist (2:46:18), losing to Irina Timofeyeva and Lyubov Morgunova.
The same year, she ran the Dalian International Marathon (finishing in 2:36:09) and took part in the European Cross Country Championships in Charleroi.
She started in Two Harbors with thousands of other runners and ran along the shore of Lake Superior to Duluth, Minnesota, leading all the women and winning in 2:35:13.
She was considered as a candidate for participation in the Summer Olympics at Athens, but in the end, the Russian coaching staff chose other runners.