Laura Gabriela Badea-Cârlescu (née Badea on 28 March 1970) is a retired

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

n foil fencer, world champion in 1995, olympic champion in 1996 and european champion in 1996,1997, 2004."1996 Summer Olympics – Atlanta, United States – Fencing"
''databaseOlympics.com'' (Retrieved 7 June 2008) After her retirement (23-year career at top-level fencing, winning 23 medals at the Olympics, World Championships, European Championships and Universiade) she became a fencing coach, then a sport administrator with numerous roles. She served as President of the Athletes Commission (2001-2005) for the Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee, Member of the Rules Commission of the International Fencing Federation, Director of Olympic Education of the Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee (2005-2012), Director of Romanian Olympic Academy(2011-2017), Romanian Ambassador for Sports, Tolerance and Fair-Play at the Council of Europe (2004-2011), Member of the Science and Sports Council in Romania (2006-2009), Member of the Romanian Anti-Doping Agency, Vice-President of the Romanian Fencing Federation (2005-2011), President of the Romanian Fencing Federation (2017-2018), Member of the ''Culture and Olympic Heritage Commission'' at the European Olympic Committee, Member of the Executiv Committee at the Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee.

Personal life

Badea was born in Bucharest in 1970, the youngest of four children. She first played

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

and

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

before turning to fencing at age 13 under Rodica Popescu, a coach at CSS 1 Bucharest, then Maria Vicol. A fan of

Alexandre Dumas Alexandre Dumas (, ; ; born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie (), 24 July 1802 – 5 December 1870), also known as Alexandre Dumas père (where '' '' is French for 'father', to distinguish him from his son Alexandre Dumas fils), was a French writer ...

' ''

The Three Musketeers ''The Three Musketeers'' (french: Les Trois Mousquetaires, links=no, ) is a French historical adventure novel written in 1844 by French author Alexandre Dumas. It is in the swashbuckler genre, which has heroic, chivalrous swordsmen who fight f ...

'', she immediately took to the sport. She later joined CSA Steaua București. She graduated from the

National Academy of Physical Education and Sport The Universitatea Națională de Educație Fizică și Sport (UNEFS), is one of the highest-profile higher education institutions in Romania, and was founded on 1 December 1922, in Bucharest. It was the tenth institution of its kind in the worl ...

in 1995. She obtained in 2003 a master in communication and human resources management from the University of Bucharest and in 2007 a master in sport management and marketing from the

Alexandru Ioan Cuza University The Alexandru Ioan Cuza University (Romanian: ''Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza"''; acronym: UAIC) is a public university located in Iași, Romania. Founded by an 1860 decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza, under whom the former Academia Mih ...

Iași Iași ( , , ; also known by other alternative names), also referred to mostly historically as Jassy ( , ), is the second largest city in Romania and the seat of Iași County. Located in the historical region of Moldavia, it has traditionally ...

. She also holds a

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...

in sport science on the subject of "Contributions to clarifying the relationship between motor intelligence and capacity for effort in high-level fencing" (“”). During her career Carlescu-Badea was a superior officer in the Romanian Army (1988-2004), rising to the rank of colonel. Badea married sabre fencer Adrian Cârlescu in 1999. The couple have a daughter, Maria.

Career

Badea took part in her first

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

in Barcelona in 1992, where she took the team bronze medal along with

Reka Szabo Reka may refer to: Places * Řeka, a village in the Czech Republic * Reka, Cerkno, a village near Cerkno, Slovenia * Reka, Laško, a village near Laško, Slovenia * Reka (Kladovo), a village near Kladovo, Serbia * Reka, Koprivnica, a village nea ...

Elisabeta Tufan Elisabeta Guzganu-Tufan (née Tufan on 8 August 1964) is a retired Romanian foil fencer. She competed at the 1984, 1988 and 1992 Olympics and won a silver and a bronze team medal in 1984 and 1992, respectively. Her best individual result was fou ...

, Claudia Grigorescu, and Ozana Dumitrescu. Romania went to earn the silver medal in the 1993 World Championships in

Essen Essen (; Latin: ''Assindia'') is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and D ...

, then the gold medal in the 1994 World Championships in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

. A year later, Badea won her first major individual title with a gold medal in the World Championships in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

; she also won a silver medal in the team event. At the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

Badea won the gold medal after defeating Valentina Vezzali of

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

and became the first and only Romanian woman fencer Olympic champion. In the team event, Romania was defeated by Italy in the final and took the silver medal. She won gold medal in the European Championships in 1996, 1997 and 2004 individual and also, in 2004 in the team event. Badea retired from competition in 2004. In 2013, she was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the

International Fencing Federation International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Badea-Carlescu, Laura 1970 births Living people Romanian female fencers Olympic fencers of Romania Fencers at the 1992 Summer Olympics Fencers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Fencers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Fencers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Romania Olympic silver medalists for Romania Olympic bronze medalists for Romania Sportspeople from Bucharest Olympic medalists in fencing Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Romanian foil fencers Romanian fencing coaches Presidents of the Romanian Fencing Federation