Elena Vladimirovna Petushkova was a Russian dressage star and a world champion. She became a member of the USSR team in 1964 and competed on the team until 1987. At the 1968 Games she was a member of the silver medal winning team, and at the 1972 Games, took home team gold – with Elena winning silver. Elena rode Pepel to win the World Championship at Aachen in 1970.

After her career she became vice president of the Soviet Union Olympic Committee between 1983 and 1991, while she was president of the Russian Equestrian Federation from 1996 to 1999 and was the head coach of the Russian National Dressage Team.

Along with her sports achievements Elena Petushkova also had a highly successful scientific career. Between 1976 and 1991, she was a senior research worker at the Department of Biology of Moscow State University. In 1991 Petushkova became a senior research worker at the Institute of Biochemistry of the Russian Academy of Science working there until 1997. She authored more than 60 publications in Soviet and international journals of biochemistry.