Paula Ivan (born 20 July 1963 as Ionescu, later known as Ilie) is a retired
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 ...
n middle-distance runner.
Born in
Herăști,
Giurgiu County, she graduated from the
Gheorghe Șincai High School in
Bucharest
Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...
in 1982.
In 1987, Ivan won gold medals in the 1500 m and 3000 m 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 ...
. Later the same year at the
World Championships
A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...
she did not advance past the heats of the same events. In July 1988 she won the 800 m and 1500 m events at the Balkan Games, setting her all-times personal best over 800 m. On 27 July at
Verona
Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city municipality in the region and the second largest in nor ...
Ivan broke the 4-minute barrier over 1500 m, clocking 3:58.80. She improved to 3:56.22 in
Zurich on 17 August. At the
1988 Summer Olympics
The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...
she won a silver medal in her first event, 3000 m, followed by a gold in the 1500 m. Her winning time, 3:53.96 was the
Olympic record
Olympic records are the best performances in a specific event in that event's history in either the Summer Olympic Games or the Winter Olympic Games, including:
* Archery (list)
* Alpine skiing (records recognized only by FIS)
* Athletics (list)
...
until 2021.
[
In 1989 Ivan won the 1500 m at the European Indoor Championships in Den Haag, in a time of 4:07.16. Later that year, outdoors, she broke the world record for the mile with a time of 4:15.61. She repeated her 1500/3000 m golden double at the Universiade in ]Duisburg
Duisburg () is a city in the Ruhr metropolitan area of the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Lying on the confluence of the Rhine and the Ruhr rivers in the center of the Rhine-Ruhr Region, Duisburg is the 5th largest city in No ...
in August and then won the 1500 m at the IAAF World Cup in Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
in September. She then retired from competitions to become a coach.[
Ivan competed in the IAAF World Cross Country Championships four times (1984–1987). At the 1985 championships, she was part of the Romanian team that won the bronze medal (Ivan finished 34th). Her best individual performance was a 9th-place finish at the 1987 race in Warsaw.][
In 2000, at 36 years old and after ten seasons away from competition, Ivan returned for one more season. She ran the 1500 m in several meets on the IAAF Grand Prix circuit, with her season's best time being 4:04.66, at the Monte Carlo Herculis-Zepter meet, on 18 August 2000. Since 2002, she works at the Faculty of Physical Education and Sport at Spiru Haret University in Bucharest.
]
References
1963 births
Living people
People from Giurgiu County
Romanian female middle-distance runners
Olympic athletes of Romania
Athletes (track and field) at the 1988 Summer Olympics
Olympic gold medalists for Romania
Olympic silver medalists for Romania
Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics
Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field)
Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field)
Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field)
Universiade gold medalists for Romania
Medalists at the 1987 Summer Universiade
Medalists at the 1989 Summer Universiade
{{Romania-athletics-bio-stub