Simona Gherman (née Alexandru; born 12 April 1985) is a retired Romanian épée fencer, European champion in
2012
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and
2016
File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...
. She was twice team World Champion in
2010
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and
2011
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and five-time team European Champion in
2008
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,
2009
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,
2011
File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...
,
2014
File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...
and
2015
File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...
.
Career
Gherman was born in Bucharest in 1985. Her first significant result was a team bronze medal with Loredana Iordăchioiu and
Ana Maria Brânză
Ana Maria Popescu, formerly known as Ana Maria Brânză (, born 26 November 1984), is a Romanian left-handed épée fencer.
Popescu is a four-time team European champion, 2013 individual European champion, and two-time team world champion.
A f ...
at the 2004 Junior World Championships in
Plovdiv
Plovdiv ( bg, Пловдив, ), is the second-largest city in Bulgaria, standing on the banks of the Maritsa river in the historical region of Thrace. It has a population of 346,893 and 675,000 in the greater metropolitan area. Plovdiv is the c ...
. The same year, she won a Junior World Cup tournament in
Palermo
Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...
.
Gherman then joined the senior national team captained by Brânză. Along with Iordăchioiu and Anca Măroiu, they won the European Championships in 2008 and 2009. In the
2010 World Fencing Championships
The 2010 World Fencing Championships were held at the Grand Palais in Paris, France 4–13 November.
Medal table
Men's events
Women's events
Participating nations
A record of 110 nations competed, with many making their debuts including ...
, the “ girls”—a nickname the Romanian team had given themselves after the ''
Powerpuff Girls
''The Powerpuff Girls'' is an American superhero animated television series created by animator Craig McCracken and produced by Hanna-Barbera (later Cartoon Network Studios) for Cartoon Network and distributed by Warner Bros. Domestic T ...
'' anime— took the first Romanian team gold in épée after defeating Germany at the
Grand Palais
The Grand Palais des Champs-Élysées ( en, Great Palace of the Elysian Fields), commonly known as the Grand Palais (English: Great Palace), is a historic site, exhibition hall and museum complex located at the Champs-Élysées in the 8th arro ...
in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
.
In 2011, Gherman won a team gold at the
European Fencing Championships
The European Fencing Championships is an annual top-level European fencing competition organized by the European Fencing Confederation.
History
The first competition bearing the name of "European Fencing Championships" was held in Paris in 1921. T ...
in
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...
and at the World Military Championships in
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...
. In August, she married Dragoș Gherman, whose name she took in competitions. In 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, ...
Romania met China in the final. After Brânză was injured, Gherman fenced
Li Na
Li Na (born 26 February 1982) is a Chinese former professional tennis player.
She achieved a career-high WTA ranking of world No. 2 on 17 February 2014. Over the course of her career, Li won nine WTA Tour singles titles including two Grand Sl ...
in the last leg and scored the decisive hit, allowing Romania to retain their gold medal. She contributed more than half her team's hits. Three
World Cup
A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...
podiums in Budapest, Havana, and Rio de Janeiro, allowed her to reach the 6th place in FIE rankings.
In 2012 Gherman won the gold in 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, ...
after prevailing over teammate Măroiu. Along with a podium in the Barcelona World Cup tournament, this result pushed her to the 5th place in FIE rankings, a personal best as of 2014. In the
London 2012 Olympics
The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
, she was defeated 15–14 in the quarter-finals by Ukraine's
Yana Shemyakina
Yana Volodymyrivna Shemyakina ( uk, Яна Володимирівна Шемякіна; born 5 January 1986)
Top-seeded Romania was also defeated 45–38 by 10th-ranked
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
in the quarter-finals and failed to earn a medal either. Gherman then decided to take a break from her career.
In December 2013 Gherman gave birth to a daughter named Ioana Teodora. She announced in April 2014 she would return to fencing and be reintegrated into the national team. A few weeks later she won the Romanian national championship after defeating 15–12 in the final team mate and world No.1 Ana Maria Brânză. She failed to qualify to the main table of 64 in the Rio de Janeiro World Cup, the first international competition after her comeback, but won a bronze medal a few days later in the Havana Grand Prix.
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, ...
in Strasbourg, she reached the semifinal, defeating reigning European champion Ana Brânză and reigning Olympic champion
Yana Shemyakina
Yana Volodymyrivna Shemyakina ( uk, Яна Володимирівна Шемякіна; born 5 January 1986)
Marie-Florence Candassamy from hosts France to finish with a bronze medal. In the team competition, No.2 seed Romania received a bye, then disposed of Ukraine 45–31 and met Italy in the semifinals. Gherman both opened and closed for her team, scoring four hits in a row against
Rossella Fiamingo
Rossella Fiamingo (born 14 July 1991) is an Italian left-handed épée fencer and two-time individual world champion. A three-time Olympian, Fiamingo is a 2021 team Olympic bronze medalist and 2016 individual Olympic silver medalist.
She is e ...
in the last relay to win 29–24. In the final against No.1 seed Russia, Gherman entered the last leg on 26 all and defeated
Lyubov Shutova
Lyubov Andreyevna Shutova (russian: Любовь Андреевна Шутова; born 25 June 1983) is a Russian fencer, World champion in 2009 and team World champion in 2013 and 2014. Bronze medallist of a team event at 2016 Summer Olympics ...
12–8 to bring Romania their 5th gold medal. 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, ...
in Kazan, Gherman prevailed easily over Magdalena Piekarska of Poland, but was stopped 14–15 in the second round by 2008 Olympic champion
Britta Heidemann
Britta Heidemann (born 22 December 1982) is a German épée fencer.
In 2016, Heidemann became a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Career Épée Fencing
At the age of 14, already being a successful athlete and swimmer, Britta ...
, who eventually earned the bronze medal. In the team event, Romania prevailed over Germany, but were defeated in the table of 8 by Italy and exited the tournament with no medal.
In the 2014–15 season Gherman won her first World Cup title at the Doha Grand Prix, after defeating Estonia's
Erika Kirpu
Erika Kirpu (born 22 June 1992) is an Estonia, Estonian right-handed épée Fencing, fencer.
Kirpu is a two-time team European champion and 2017 team world champion.
A two-time Olympic Games, Olympian, Kirpu is a 2021 team Olympic champion.
Kir ...
in the final. In Barcelona she was eliminated in the table of 16 by Russia's Tatyana Andryushina, but she was instrumental in Romania's bronze medal in the team event, first bridging the points gap, then striking the decisive hit in the “small final” against Russia.