Who are Tamara and Irina Press?
Tamara and Irina Press were Ukrainian athletes who competed in the 1960 and 1964 Olympics. They were the center of a scandal that ultimately resulted in mandatory gender verification for the Olympic Games. Tamara and Irina Press were born in Kharkiv, Ukraine, in 1937 and 1939. They were a part of the rigorous and dynamic Olympic team that the Soviet Union put together to dominate the Olympic Games, as part of a model of fighting the Cold War with the United States in non-military arenas. The Press Sisters, as Tamara and Irina Press were known, dominated the Track and Field competitions at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome, and the 1964 Games in Tokyo. Tamara Natanovna Press won the Gold Medal in the Shot Put during both the 1960 and 1964 Olympics, and won the Silver Medal in the Discus Throw in the 1960 Olympics and the Gold Medal in the Discus in 1964. Irina Natanovna Press won the Gold Medal in the 80m Hurdles in the 1960 Games, and the Gold Medal in the Pentathlon in the 1964 Games. To
