Elena Belova

Elena Dmitriyevna Novikova-Belova (Russian: Елена Дмитриевна Новикова-Белова, née "Novikova" on 28 July 1947) is a retired Russian foil fencer. She competed at the 1968, 1972, 1976 and 1980 Olympics in the individual and team events and won four gold, one silver and one bronze medal, becoming the first female fencer to win four Olympic gold medals. She nearly won a fifth gold in 1976, but lost her last pool match to the last-placed fencer. Belova also won eight world titles, individually in 1969, and with the Soviet team in 1970–1979.
Shortly before the 1968 Olympics she married to Vyacheslav Belov, a future world champion in modern pentathlon, and changed her last name from Novikova to Belova. She retired after the 1980 Olympics, and gave birth in 1987, aged 40. Her second husband, composer Valery Ivanov, devoted a waltz to her.
In 1970 Belova graduated from the Minsk institute of Pedagogy, she holds a PhD in this discipline. In 1997 she was awarded the Olympic Order in Silver, and in 2007 the Pierre de Coubertin Medal.