Iolanda Balaș
She was the first Romanian woman to win an Olympic gold medal and is considered to have been one of the greatest high jumpers of the twentieth century.Her father served in the Hungarian army until he was captured and brought to the Soviet Union and later back to Hungary, where he settled in Budapest.[4] Balaș tried to reunite the family and move to Hungary, but although she managed to obtain a Hungarian passport in 1947,[3] she was not allowed to leave Romania.[5] When asked in an interview in 2005 whether she had ever thought about defection, she said that it had crossed her mind; however, as it could have resulted in serious retaliation against her relatives, she did not want to risk it.[1] After retiring from competition in 1967, Balaș married her former coach Ioan Söter,[8] and taught physical education in Bucharest.
TimișoaraBucharestRomaniaOlympic Games1960 RomeHigh jump1964 TokyoEuropean Championships1958 Stockholm1962 Belgrade1954 BernUniversiade1959 Torino1961 SofiaHungarianOlympicformer world record holder in the high jumpethnic Hungarian1964 Summer Olympics1956 Melbourne Olympicsgold medalsRome in 1960Tokyo in 1964world recordIlona Gusenbauerstraddle techniqueFosburyIoan SoterEuropean Athletics AssociationInternational Association of Athletics Federationstype II diabetesGhencea CemeteryMichael I of RomaniaRomanian Athletics FederationTrack & Field NewsIAAF Hall of FameWomen's high jump world record progressionSports ReferenceThe ScotsmanRomanian Olympic CommitteeOlympics.comThelma HopkinsWomen's high jump world record holderMildred McDanielZheng FengrongOlympic champions in women's high jumpEthel CatherwoodJean ShileyIbolya CsákAlice CoachmanEsther BrandMiloslava RezkováUlrike MeyfarthRosemarie AckermannSara SimeoniLouise RitterHeike HenkelStefka KostadinovaYelena YelesinaYelena SlesarenkoTia HellebautAnna ChicherovaRuth BeitiaMariya LasitskeneYaroslava MahuchikhEuropean Athletics ChampionshipsAnne-Marie ColchenSheila LerwillTaisia ChenchikBritta BilačMonica IagărKajsa BergqvistBlanka VlašićWorld University GamesYordanka BlagoevaSnežana HrepevnikVirginia IoanGalina FilatovaAndrea MátayTamara BykovaSilvia CostaSvetlana IsaevaAlina AstafeiAlison InverarityTanya HughesViktoriya FyodorovaAmy AcuffVita PalamarDóra GyőrffyMarina AitovaAriane FriedrichBrigetta BarrettKamila LićwinkoAirinė PalšytėOksana OkunyevaYuliya ChumachenkoRose Amoanimaa YeboahJesse OwensAbebe BikilaPaavo NurmiSergey BubkaSebastian CoeCarl LewisEmil ZátopekAl OerterAdhemar da SilvaEdwin MosesFanny Blankers-KoenBetty CuthbertJackie Joyner-KerseeWang JunxiaIrena SzewińskaMichael JohnsonDan O'BrienBabe ZahariasAlberto JuantorenaKip KeinoPeter SnellVladimir GolubnichiyHarrison DillardMarjorie JacksonHannes KolehmainenNatalya LisovskayaSvetlana MasterkovaNoureddine MorceliParry O'Brien