She switched from swimming to track and field aged 15. She then progressed very rapidly in the sport and excelled as a junior, running the 1500 metres in 4 minutes 15.9 seconds. She competed in the inaugural women's 1500 metre Olympic event at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, where she finished second in her heat with a time of 4 minutes 6.7 seconds to Lyudmila Bragina who broke the world record.