Lia Manoliu
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Olympic medal record | |||
| Women's athletics | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Bronze | Rome 1960 | Discus Throw | |
| Bronze | Tokyo 1964 | Discus Throw | |
| Gold | Mexico City 1968 | Discus Throw | |
Lia Manoliu (April 25, 1932, Chişinău - January 9, 1998, Bucharest) was a Romanian discus thrower who competed at a record six Summer Olympics, winning three discus medals.
Manoliu not only became the first track and field athlete to compete at six Olympic Games, but she also represented her country with distinction, winning medals on three of the six occasions. Lia started her Olympic odyssey at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, where she finished 6th with a throw of 42,64m.
She bettered this distance at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia, throwing 43,90m for a ninth place finish. At the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, she held the lead after the first round with a throw of 52,36m, and although she was unable to improve upon this in subsequent rounds, the throw was sufficient to earn her the bronze medal. At the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Manoliu was lying in fourth place after round four, but she produced a throw of 56,96m on her fifth attempt to gain her second Olympic bronze medal.
In the winter of 1967-68, the Romanian Athletics Federation informed the 35 year-old Manoliu that she was too old to try for the Olympics again and that she need not bother turning our for their training camp sessions. This only served to increase Manoliu's determination, and after months of hard and lonely training, she qualified for the Romanian team to the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City. In Mexico, she carried an injury to her throwing arm sustained in a shot-putting accident into the competition, and the team doctor warned her that it was good for only one good throw. One throw was all Manoliu needed, registering a distance of 58,28m on her first attempt, which proved good enough for the gold medal. On 19 July the following year, Manoliu won the UK national WAAA discus title at the Crystal Palace, and in 1972, in her final year of competition, she finished 9th in the discus final at the 1972 Summer Olympics.
She died of a heart attack in January 1998 after lapsing into a coma during surgery for a brain tumor the week before. She was buried at Bellu Cemetery.
The Lia Manoliu Stadium in Bucharest is named after her.
| Olympic champions in women's discus throw |
|---|
| 1928: Halina Konopacka | 1932: Lillian Copeland | 1936: Gisela Mauermayer | 1948: Micheline Ostermeyer | 1952: Nina Romaschkova | 1956: Olga Fikotová | 1960: Nina Ponomaryeva | 1964: Tamara Press | 1968: Lia Manoliu | 1972: Faina Melnik | 1976: Evelin Schlaak | 1980: Evelin Jahl | 1984: Ria Stalman | 1988: Martina Hellmann | 1992: Maritza Martén | 1996: Ilke Wyludda | 2000: Ellina Zvereva | 2004: Natalya Sadova |
Categories: 1932 births | 1998 deaths | Romanian athletes | Discus throwers | Olympic competitors for Romania | Athletes at the 1952 Summer Olympics | Athletes at the 1956 Summer Olympics | Athletes at the 1960 Summer Olympics | Athletes at the 1964 Summer Olympics | Athletes at the 1968 Summer Olympics | Athletes at the 1972 Summer Olympics
