Marina Sidorova

{{MedalTableTop|sport= Women's athletics|country_code=URS|medals=

{{Medal|Competition|European Championships}}

{{Medal|Bronze|1971 Helsinki|4 × 100 m relay}}

{{Medal|Competition|European Indoor Championships}}

{{Medal|Gold |1978 Milan|400 m}}

{{Medal|Competition|IAAF World Cup}}

{{Medal|Bronze|1977 Dusseldorf|4 × 100 m relay}}

{{Medal|Bronze|1977 Dusseldorf|4 × 400 m relay}}

{{Medal|Bronze|1979 Rome|4 × 400 m relay}}

}}

Marina Grigorievna Sidorova ({{langx|ru|Марина Григорьевна Сидорова-Никифорова}}, née Nikiforova; born 16 January 1950) is a Russian former Soviet track and field sprinter. She was a seven-time Soviet champion, winning over distances from 100 metres to 400 metres.[http://www.gbrathletics.com/nc/urs.htm Soviet Championships]. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2017-04-03.[http://www.gbrathletics.com/nc/ursi.htm Soviet Indoor Championships]. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2017-04-03.

Born in Saint Petersburg (then Leningrad), she made her Olympic debut at age twenty-two and was a 200 metres semi-finalist and helped the Soviet women to fifth in the 4 × 100 metres relay.[https://web.archive.org/web/20200418120126/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/si/marina-sidorova-1.html Marina Sidorova]. Sports Reference. Retrieved on 2017-04-03. Her greatest individual success came at the 1978 European Athletics Indoor Championships, where she won the women's 400 metres title.[http://www.gbrathletics.com/ic/eiw.htm European Indoor Championships (Women)]. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2017-04-03. She took a 400 m bronze at the 1977 IAAF World Cup and was twice a 200 m silver medallist at the Universiade.[http://www.gbrathletics.com/ic/wp.htm IAAF World Cup]. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2017-04-03.[http://www.gbrathletics.com/ic/wsgw.htm Universiade (women)]. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2017-04-03. She also won three individual medals at the European Cup during her career.[http://www.gbrathletics.com/ic/epw.htm European Cup (women)]. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2017-04-03.

With the Soviet women's relay team, she won four bronze medals at major competitions. Her first came at the 1971 European Athletics Championships, alongside Lyudmila Zharkova, Galina Bukharina and Nadezhda Besfamilnaya.[http://www.european-athletics.org/mm/Document/EventsMeetings/General/01/27/31/44/StatisticsHandbookZ%C3%BCrich2014_Neutral.pdf European Athletics Championships Zürich 2014 - STATISTICS HANDBOOK]. European Athletics. Retrieved on 2017-04-03. She won medals in both 4 × 100 metres relay and 4 × 400 metres relay at the 1977 IAAF World Cup and returned two years later to win another bronze in the 4 × 400 metres relay in a team anchored by future Olympic champion Lyudmila Kondratyeva.[http://www.iaaf.org/mm/document/competitions/competition/05/79/40/20100809103225_httppostedfile_split2010_21818.pdf IAAF World Cup] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121026100106/http://www.iaaf.org/mm/document/competitions/competition/05/79/40/20100809103225_httppostedfile_split2010_21818.pdf |date=2012-10-26 }}. IAAF. Retrieved on 2017-04-03.

She was the daughter of two former athletes who became athletics coaches, Grigory Nikiforov and Valentina Nikiforova, who propagated a new training technique for distance running, based on long, low-speed runs and short high-speed runs.