Noemi Lung Zaharia (born May 16, 1968) is a retired

butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The group comprise ...

, freestyle and medley swimmer from

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

, who won two individual medley medals at the 1988 Olympics. A year before she collected a record five gold medals at the

1987 Summer Universiade The 1987 Summer Universiade, also known as the XIV Summer Universiade, took place in Zagreb, SR Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia. It involved participants from 111 countries and over 6,000 individual sportspersons and members of teams. Infrastructural cha ...

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital and largest city of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb stands near the international border between Croatia and Slov ...

. In 1990 she moved to the United States, where she received a scholarship in 1995 and graduated in management from the

Florida International University Florida International University (FIU) is a public research university with its main campus in Miami-Dade County. Founded in 1965, the school opened its doors to students in 1972. FIU has grown to become the third-largest university in Florid ...

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

. She was women's swimming Head Coach at the Florida University from 2002 to 2010.Noeim Lung-Zaharia's bio
on the FIU Athletics website. Retrieved: 2008-11-15. In 2020, she received a PhD in sports leadership from the

United States Sports Academy The United States Sports Academy is a private university focused on sports and located in Daphne, Alabama. It offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degree programs as well as certificate programs. Founded in 1972, the academy has provided its ...

. Since 2010 she is the Director of the Aquatic and Fitness Center at Miami Dade College North campus in Miami, FL, before becoming an assistant professor at the University of Alabama Huntsville. Since December 1995 she is married to the Olympic handball player

Cristian Zaharia Cristian Valentin Zaharia (born 8 July 1967) is a Romanian former professional handball player and current coach. He competed in the men's tournament at the 1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de ...

References

1968 births Living people Romanian female butterfly swimmers Romanian female freestyle swimmers Romanian female medley swimmers Sportspeople from Baia Mare Romanian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Olympic swimmers of Romania Swimmers at the 1988 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 1992 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for Romania Olympic silver medalists for Romania Place of birth missing (living people) Olympic bronze medalists in swimming Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming European Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Olympic silver medalists in swimming Universiade medalists in swimming Universiade gold medalists for Romania Universiade bronze medalists for Romania Medalists at the 1987 Summer Universiade 20th-century Romanian women {{Romania-swimming-bio-stub