Ionela Târlea (during marriage ''Târlea-Manolache;'' born 9 February 1976) is a former

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 ...

athlete, competing internationally for

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 ...

. She won the

silver medal A silver medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc ...

in the 400 m hurdles at the 2004 Summer Olympics. At the same games 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 ...

, Greece, Târlea helped the Romanian national team to sixth place in the

4 × 400 m relay 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest c ...

. She gained recognition in top international competitions as early as 1996 at the

Atlanta 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, ...

, when she came seventh in the 400 m hurdles event. In 1999 at the

World Indoor Athletics Championships The World Athletics Indoor Championships are a biennial indoor track and field competition served as the global championship for that version of the sport. Organised by the World Athletics, the competition was inaugurated as the ''World Indoor G ...

she won the

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

in the

200 metres The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightl ...

. In 2000 in Sydney, Australia, Târlea earned her place again in the finals of the 400 m hurdles event, and came sixth. In 2002, she reaped gold at the

European Championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...

held in Munich, also in the 400 m hurdles, her preferred event. A rather uneventful period followed for Târlea.:It was only in early 2008 that she secured her comeback among the world's top athletes as she came third in the

400 m The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor running track, it is o ...

event held in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

's Sparkassen Cup. She retired in April 2009, due to long-term injuries. At club level Târlea competed for

Dinamo Bucharest A dynamo is a magnetic device originally used as an electric generator. Dynamo or Dinamo may also refer to: Places * Dinamo (Moscow Metro), a station of the Moscow Metro, Moscow, Russia * Dinamo (Yekaterinburg Metro), a station of the Yekaterinbu ...

, Fenerbahçe Istanbul and Sporting Portugal athletics.Fenerbahce Athletic

Achievements

References

External links

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Tirlea de argint!
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tarlea, Ionela 1976 births Living people Sportspeople from Craiova Romanian female hurdlers Romanian female sprinters Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Olympic athletes for Romania Athletes (track and field) at the 1996 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for Romania European Athletics Championships medalists Fenerbahçe athletes Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field) Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) FISU World University Games gold medalists for Romania World Athletics Indoor Championships winners World Athletics Indoor Championships medalists Medalists at the 1995 Summer Universiade Medalists at the 1999 Summer Universiade Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal