Career Highlights: One of the most decorated race walkers in the world, Kaniskina will try to defend her Olympic gold at the 2012 Games. Despite battling a steady rain that made conditions slippery in Beijing four years ago, Kaniskina set an Olympic record in the 20k race with a time of 1:26:31 - 36 seconds better than the previous mark. She bested that time one year later at the Russian Championships, clocking in at 1:24:56 - which would have been good enough for a world record, but could not be approved without international judges on site. Still, she owns the official championship record with a time of 1:25:42, set at the 2008 IAAF World Race Walking Cup. A year ago, Kaniskina became the first female to win a third consecutive world championship, also having won the event in 2007 and ’09.