Simona Staicu (born 5 May 1971 in Băileşti,

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 ...

) is a Romanian-born Hungarian long-distance and marathon runner. Transferring her allegiance from Romania in 2000 to compete internationally for

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

, Staicu has won numerous titles in the half-marathon, and has attained a personal best of 2:29:59 at the Milano City Marathon in

Milan, Italy Milan ( , , Lombard language, Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the List of cities in Italy, second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 ...

. Staicu trains under the tutelage of her husband, coach, and former runner András Juhász, as a member of the track and field team, at Budapesti Vasutas Sport Club in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

. Staicu qualified for the Hungarian team, as a 33-year-old, in the women's marathon at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

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 ...

. She registered an IAAF A-standard and a 2004 seasonal best of 2:36:46, following her victory at the Osaka Marathon in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. Staicu finished the race with a forty-fifth place time in 2:48:57 from a vast field of 83 marathon runners, just twelve seconds slower than her entry standard.

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* 1971 births Living people Hungarian female long-distance runners Hungarian female marathon runners Olympic athletes for Hungary Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics Hungarian people of Romanian descent People from Băilești Athletes from Budapest Romanian female marathon runners Romanian female long-distance runners World Athletics Championships athletes for Hungary Sportspeople from Dolj County {{Hungary-athletics-bio-stub