One of the world’s all-time greatest female discus throwers, Fania Melnik set a World record of 210’8”/62.22 meters in her international debut at the 1971 European Championships. She dominated the Discus event for seven years, holding the number one World ranking from 1971 to 1977—the third longest World’s number one streak in women’s track and field history.

At the 1972 Munich Olympic Games, Melnik won the Discus gold
medal, bettering her World mark by more than two meters and resetting the Olympic record three times, with a final toss of 217’11”/66.62 meters.

During the next four years, Melnik topped her own World record several more times. Although she managed only a fourth-place finish at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, she had her best career throw that year, a toss of 70.50 meters—making her the first woman to break the 70-meters mark. In 1977 she won the first World Cup Discus competition in Düsseldorf, Germany.