Sonia O'Sullivan is an Irish former track and field athlete. She won a gold medal in the 5000 metres at the 1995 World Championships, and a silver medal in the 5000 metres at the 2000 Olympic Games. Her 2000 m world record of 5:25.36, set in 1994 stood until 2017.
Maricica Puică is a retired Romanian middle-distance runner. She is the 1984 Olympic champion in the 3000 metres. One of the greatest female middle-distance runners of the 1980s, she also twice won the World Cross Country Championship and broke the world record for the mile in 1982.
Doina Ofelia Melinte is a retired Romanian middle-distance runner. She competed at four Olympics (1980–92), and won a gold medal in the 800 metres and a silver medal in the 1500 metres in 1984. She won the world indoor title in 1987 and 1989 and the European indoor title in 1985, 1988 and 1990 in the 1500 m. Her world indoor mile record of 4:17.41 in 1990, stood for 26 years.
Nataliya Viktorivna Tobias is a female former middle-distance runner from Ukraine, who specialized in the 1500 metres. She holds personal bests of 4:01.78 minutes for the 1500 m, 2:02.31 minutes for the 800 metres, and 8:51.32 minutes for the 3000 metres.
Ancuța Bobocel is a Romanian middle-distance runner who specializes in the 3000 metres steeplechase. She represented Romania at the 2008, 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics and is a three-time participant at the World Championships in Athletics. In 2009, she won the European U23 and Jeux de la Francophonie steeplechase titles, as well as a silver at the Summer Universiade.
René Kalmer is a South African runner who has competed over distances ranging from 800 metres to the marathon. She represented South Africa at the 2008 Summer Olympics, running in the 1500 metres. She then represented South Africa again at the 2012 Summer Olympics, competing in the marathon.
The athletics competition at the 1981 Summer Universiade was held at the National Stadium in Bucharest, Romania, in July 1981. The programme featured 23 events for men and 16 for women. A total of fourteen Universiade records were broken during the 1981 Games.
Jessica Warner-Judd is an English middle- and long-distance runner. She won two individual medals in the Under-20 and U23 races at the European Cross Country Championships and a gold medal for the 5000 metres at the 2019 Universiade.
Niusha Carmen Mancilla Heredia is a Bolivian former middle and long-distance runner. She holds the Bolivian records from 800 metres up to the 15 km road distance, as well as for the 3000 metres steeplechase.
Minori Hayakari (早狩実紀) is a Japanese track and field athlete who specialises in the 3000 metres steeplechase. Her personal best of 9:33.93 minutes is the Japanese record and she has won straight Japanese national titles since the first event in 2005, taking her sixth title in 2011.
Christine Benning is an English former middle-distance runner who competed mainly in the 1500 metres and the 3000 metres. In the 1500 m, she represented Great Britain at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, finishing fifth in the final. She won a silver medal at the 1978 Commonwealth Games in Edmonton. She also broke the UK record in 1979, with 4:01.53. As of 2022, she still ranks in the UK all-time top ten (outdoors) for the mile.
Sifan Hassan is an Ethiopian-born Dutch middle- and long-distance runner. She is most recognized for her versatility in running championship and world leading performances in widely disparate distances. She completed an unprecedented triple at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, winning gold medals in both the 5000 metres and 10,000 metres and a bronze medal for the 1500 metres. Hassan is the only athlete in Olympic history to win medals across a middle-distance event and both long-distance races in a single Games. She is only the second woman to complete an Olympic distance double.
Marie-Pierre Duros is a French former middle- and long-distance runner who specialised in the 3000 metres. Her personal best of 8:38.97 minutes for the event is a former French record, which lasted from 1989 to 1999. She was a two-time Olympian and three times participant at the World Championships in Athletics.
Deborah Dawn "Debbie" Scott-Bowker is a Canadian former middle- and long-distance runner. A three-time Olympian for Canada, she reached the 1500 m final in 1984, and both the 1500 m and 3000 m finals in 1988. She was also a three-time World Championship finalist, reaching the 1500 m and 3000 m finals in 1987, and the 1500 m final in 1991.
Juliana Paula Gomes dos Santos is a Brazilian middle-distance runner. Her greatest achievement is a gold medal in the 1500 metres at the 2007 Pan American Games held in Rio de Janeiro. She is a three-time gold medallist at the South American Championships in Athletics, being the 1500 m champion in 2003 and 2006, as well as a 4×400 metres relay champion.
Lyubov Kremlyova is a Russian former middle- and long-distance runner who competed internationally both for the Soviet Union and Russia. She had her greatest success indoors, winning medals at the 1991 IAAF World Indoor Championships and 1992 European Athletics Indoor Championships. She was stripped of a second World Indoor medal in 1995 after a positive test for steroids.
Ellen Buchleitner is a German former track and field athlete who was a middle-distance specialist. Representing East Germany, she won a silver medal in the 800 metres at the 1989 European Indoor Championships and a bronze medal in the 800m at the 1989 World Indoor Championships, before going on to win a silver medal in the 1500 metres at the 1990 European Championships. She won three East German national titles.
Gabriela Maria DeBues-Stafford is a Canadian middle- and long-distance runner. A two-time Olympian, she placed fifth in the women's 1500 metres at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. DeBues-Stafford holds the NACAC area record over the indoor 5000 metres, which she set in February 2022.
Viorica Dima Ghican is a Romanian female former distance runner who competed over distances from 1500 metres to 10,000 metres. She competed in track, road and cross country running disciplines. She was the gold medallist in the 10,000 m at the 1989 Summer Universiade, setting a games record in the process. Among her other individual honours were gold medals at the Balkan Athletics Championships and World University Cross Country Championships in 1988, and silver medals at the 1990 Goodwill Games and 1989 European Cup.
Mariana Chirilă is a Romanian female distance runner who competed in events ranging from 800 metres to the marathon. Individually she won gold medals in the 3000 metres at the 1986 Goodwill Games and the 1992 Balkan Athletics Championships, and won the senior race at the Balkan Cross Country Championships in 1985. She represented her country at the European Athletics Championships in 1986, twice at the Universiade, and twice at the IAAF World Women's Road Race Championships. Her highest global ranking was eighth in the 3000 m for the 1986 season.
