Natalia Mărăşescu (née Andrei on 3 October 1952) 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 ...

middle distance runner Middle-distance running events are track races longer than sprints, up to 3000 metres. The standard middle distances are the 800 metres, 1500 metres and mile run, although the 3000 metres may also be classified as a middle-distance event. The 15 ...

who specialized mainly in the

1500 metres The 1500 metres or 1,500-metre run (typically pronounced 'fifteen-hundred metres') is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athle ...

. She competed in this event at the 1976 and 1980 Olympics and placed ninth in 1980.

Biography

Mărăşescu set two world records over the mile; 4:23.8 minutes on 21 May 1977 in Bucharest, and 4:22.09 minutes on 27 January 1979 in Auckland. The record was broken by Mary Slaney won ran in 4:21.68 minutes a year later in the same city. The current record is 4:12.33

She briefly held the record in the 5000 metres, with 15:41.4 minutes. This record lasted less than four months before being broken by Jan Merrill

Doping ban

Mărăşescu was banned 18 months for taking anabolic steroids in 1979.7 women fail dope test
The Deseret News, 25 October 1979
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Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twi ...

.'' 31 Märch 1980 After 8 months Mărăşescu was reinstatedOlympic Review:
Within the IFs
(PDF; 386 kB).'' 1980 after IAAF President

Adriaan Paulen Adriaan "Adje" Paulen (12 October 1902, Haarlem – 9 May 1985, Eindhoven) was a Dutch athlete who competed from 1917 to 1931. During World War II, he was part of the Dutch resistance in the Netherlands. Following World War II, Paulen b ...

of the Netherlands said that an 18-month suspension in the steroid case would have kept the women
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.'' 31 Märch 1980 out of the Moscow Olympics, which would have constituted "an extra penalty." He said that the IAAF Council had therefore reinstated them for "humane reasons."

References

1952 births Doping cases in athletics Romanian sportspeople in doping cases Living people Romanian female middle-distance runners Athletes (track and field) at the 1976 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1980 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Romania European Athletics Championships medalists Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) FISU World University Games gold medalists for Romania Universiade silver medalists for Romania People from Gorj County {{Romania-athletics-bio-stub