Reztsova earned a total of five medals in the Winter Olympics, including three golds.

She is one of the few competitors to win gold medals at three consecutive Olympics under three different flags.

Reztsova won a biathlon gold medal in the 4x5 kilometres relay at Calgary 1988 for the Soviet Union.

That was followed by another gold in biathlon in the 7.5km sprint at Albertville 1992 for the Unified Team and then one in the 20km cross-country at Albertville 1994 for Russia.

Reztsova also won a silver medal in the 20km freestyle cross-country at Calgary 1988 and bronze in the 3x7.5km biathlon relay at Albertville 1992.

She also found success at the International Ski and Snowboard Federation Nordic World Ski Championships, earning three gold medals in the 4×5 km relay in 1985, 1987 and 1999 and two silvers in 1987 over 5km and 20km.

Reztsova also won one cross-country World Cup and seven biathlon World Cups in her career.

But her career was tarnished when, in an interview with a Russian newspaper in 2020, she admitted to having used illegal performance-enhancing drugs via blood transfusions at the end of her career.

Reztsova also conceded that she could not rule out having been doped by Soviet doctors during her career because she did not know what they had prescribed to her.

Reztsova caused international controversy last year when, following the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, she hit out at Norwegian biathletes who had called for Russian athletes to be banned from international competition.

She claimed that Russian athletes would always be better than Norwegian, and they just wanted to get rid of rivals.

Reztsova called Norwegians "disgusting cockroaches".

At one point, she was also threatened with legal action by five-time Olympic biathlon gold medallist and International Olympic Committee Martin Fourcade after she made accusations about his performances.

"She was always straightforward, unsophisticated," two-time Olympic biathlon champion Dmitry Vasiliev told Russia’s official state news agency TASS.

"Perhaps something shouldn’t have been said so as not to spoil the situation, but for her there were no such prohibitions.

"She always said what she thought.

"She could speak out straightforwardly, head-on, be in full view of everyone and attracted significant attention to herself.

"Many listened to her non-standard, extraordinary statements."

Reztsova's daughters are also accomplished biathletes with Kristina Reztsova winning Olympic silver and bronze medals at Beijing 2022 and Daria Virolaynen having claimed a gold medal at the 2017 European Championships.

Virolaynen announced recently that she would no longer compete for Russia and instead intends to represent Finland in the 2023-2024 season.

Reztsova, who had suffered a heart attack in March, fell ill again earlier this month and lost consciousness on October 15.

She died on Thursday (October 21) and is due to be buried in Moscow on Tuesday (October 24).