Faina Melnik

Faina Grigorievna Veleva-Melnik (Russian: Фаина Григорьевна Велева-Мельник; Ukrainian: Фаїна Григорівна Велєва-Мельник, romanized: Faina Hryhorivna Velieva-Melnyk; née Melnik; 9 June 1945 – 16 December 2016) was a Soviet discus thrower, a 1972 Summer Olympics champion in the discus event. During her career she set 11 world records.

Melnik was Jewish and was born in Bakota, Khmelnytskyi, Ukraine. At the 1972 Summer Olympics, she broke the Olympic record three times, and set a world record at 66.62 metres. She had already broken the world record at the 1971 European Athletics Championships, representing the then Soviet Union. In 1976, she had her best ever discus throw of 70.50 m, but finished only fourth at the 1976 Summer Olympics. At those Olympics, she also competed in the shot put and finished tenth. She failed to reach the final in the discus event at the 1980 Games.

Continuing to throw after the 1980 Olympics, she set the masters world record in the W35 division that has stood since 1980.

Melnik graduated from the Moscow State University of Medicine and Dentistry and later worked as a dentist and athletics coach in Moscow. Her trainees include Natalya Lisovskaya and Svetlana Krivelyova. Melnik was married to Velko Velev, a Bulgarian discus thrower who also competed at the 1976 and 1980 Olympics.

She later became an inspiration for Miss Trunchbull in the Roald Dahl children's book Matilda.