Lia Manoliu

Lia Manoliu (born April 25 1932 in Chişinău,now Republic of Moldova – died January 9 1998 in 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. In 1972, she was awarded the UNESCO Fair Play Prize, for her support to the ideals of fair and loyal competition.Between 1990 and her death she served as President of the Romanian Olympic ComiteeShe was a member of the Romanian Senate in the 1992-1996 legislature.

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.