Elisabeta Lipă (;

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Oleniuc on 26 October 1964) is a retired rower and government official from

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

. She is the most decorated rower in the history of the Olympics, winning five

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

, two silver and one bronze medals. She holds the record amongst rowers for the most years between gold medals, at 20 years. Since 2004, Lipă has served in various government positions including Minister of Youth and Sport under

Dacian Cioloș Dacian Julien Cioloș (; born 27 July 1969) is a Romanian Agronomy, agronomist who served as Prime Minister of Romania from November 2015 to January 2017. He previously served as Ministry of Agriculture, Forests and Rural Development (Romania), A ...

from 2015 to 2017. Since 2009, she has also served as the president of the Romanian Rowing Federation and the Dinamo București Sports Club.

Career

Lipă made her debut at the age of 19 at the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and commonly known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the ...

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, where she won her first gold medal in the double sculls event. She won her most recent gold medal in the eight at the Athens Summer Olympics in 2004. She is the only person to win a gold medal in the two premiere rowing events: the single scull and the eight. She is also one of very few women to win a gold medal in both a sculling (two oars per person) and a sweep (one oar per person) event. (Canada's Kathleen Heddle and Marnie McBean accomplished the same, sculling and sweep gold medals, in 1992 and 1996. Also, Romanians Simona Radis and Ancuta Bodnar, gold in double sculls in Tokyo, 2020, and eight, in Paris 2024.) In 2004, she became the first female rower and the second rower overall to compete at six Olympics. This was first done by Czechoslovak rower Jiří Pták (cox) in 1992 and equalled in 2008 by Canadian Lesley Thompson (cox), Estonian Jüri Jaanson, and Australian James Tomkins.

Later life

In 2008 she was awarded the Thomas Keller Medal at the Rowing World Cup in Lucerne and became an honorary citizen of her native town Siret. From November 2015 to January 2017, she served as the Romanian Minister of Youth and Sport in the Cioloș Cabinet.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lipa, Elisabeta 1964 births People from Siret Romanian female rowers Rowers at the 1984 Summer Olympics Rowers at the 1988 Summer Olympics Rowers at the 1992 Summer Olympics Rowers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Rowers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Rowers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic rowers for Romania Olympic gold medalists for Romania Olympic silver medalists for Romania Olympic bronze medalists for Romania Living people Members of Leander Club Olympic medalists in rowing Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Members of the Romanian Cabinet World Rowing Championships medalists for Romania Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1984 Summer Olympics Thomas Keller Medal recipients Rowers from Suceava County 20th-century Romanian sportswomen

Career

Later life

See also

References

External links