Maricica Puică

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Maricica Puică
Puică in 1982
Personal information
Born (1950-07-29) 29 July 1950 (age 73)
Iași, Romania[1]
Height168 cm (5 ft 6 in)
Weight54 kg (119 lb)
Sport
SportAthletics
Event1000–3000 m
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)1000 m – 2:31.5 (1986)
1500 m – 3:57.22 (1984)
3000 m – 8:27.83 (1985)[2]
Medal record
Representing  Romania
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 1984 Los Angeles 3000 m
Bronze medal – third place 1984 Los Angeles 1500 m
World Championships
Silver medal – second place 1987 Rome 3000 m
World Indoor Championships
Bronze medal – third place 1987 Indianapolis 3000 m
World Cross Country Championships
Gold medal – first place 1982 Rome Women's race
Gold medal – first place 1984 East Rutherford Women's race
Bronze medal – third place 1978 Glasgow Women's race
European Championships
Silver medal – second place 1982 Athens 3000 m
Silver medal – second place 1986 Stuttgart 3000 m

Maricica Puică (née Luca on 29 July 1950) is a retired Romanian middle-distance runner. She is the 1984 Olympic champion in the 3,000 metres. One of the greatest female middle-distance runners of the 1980s, she also twice won the World Cross Country Championship (1982, 1984) and broke the world record for the mile in 1982.[2]

Career

Puică was born in Iași, Romania and competed at the 1976 Montreal Olympics and the 1980 Moscow Olympics, where she finished seventh in the 1,500 m. In 1978, she placed fourth in the 3,000 m at the European Championships. In March 1982, she won the IAAF World Cross Country Championships. In August, she won a silver medal in the 3,000 m at the European Championships behind Svetlana Ulmasova. She also finished fourth in the 1,500 m final. A month later in September, she broke Mary Decker's world mile record of 4:18.08 with 4:17.44 in Rieti.

Puică missed the 1983 World Championships due to injury, but returned in early 1984 to win her second World Cross Country Championship title. Then in the Summer, she won the inaugural 3,000 m title at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, a race remembered more for the collision of Mary Decker and Zola Budd. At those Games, she also won a bronze medal in the 1,500 m behind Italy's Gabriella Dorio and Romanian teammate Doina Melinte.[1]

In July 1986, at the London Grand Prix, she broke Tatyana Kazankina's world 2,000 m record of 5:28.72, with a time of 5:28.69. At the 1986 European Championships in Stuttgart, she won a silver medal in the 3,000 m, behind Olga Bondarenko of the Soviet Union. She was also fifth in the 1,500 m final. 1987 began with her winning a bronze medal in the 3,000 m at the World Indoor Championships in Indianapolis, finishing behind the Soviet pair of Tatyana Samolenko and Bondarenko. Later that year, aged 37, she won a silver medal in the 3000 m at the World Championships in Rome, again behind Samolenko.[2]

Puica competed at her fourth and final Olympic Games in Seoul 1988, where she dropped out of her 3000 m heat with just 200 metres to go.[1]

In 1989, she spoke on Romanian television in support of the revolutionaries fighting against the regime of Nicolae Ceaușescu. (However Nicolae Ceaușescu ignored the Soviet Union boycott of the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, in contrast to the other East European countries.)

International competitions

Year Competition Venue Position Event Notes
Representing  Romania
1976 Olympic Games Montreal, Canada heats 1500 m 4:12.62
1978 World Cross Country Championships Glasgow, Scotland 3rd
European Championships Prague, Czech Republic 4th 3000 m 8:40.9
1980 Olympic Games Moscow, Russia 7th 1500 m 4:01.26
1981 World Cup Rome, Italy 2nd 3000 m 8:55.80
1982 European Indoor Championships Milan, Italy 2nd 3000 m 8:54.26
World Cross Country Championships Rome, Italy 1st
European Championships Athens, Greece 4th 1500 m 3:59.31
2nd 3000 m 8:33.33
1984 World Cross Country Championships New York, United States 1st
Olympic Games Los Angeles, United States 3rd 1500 m 4:04.15
1st 3000 m 8:35.96
1986 European Championships Stuttgart, Germany 5th 1500 m 4:03.90
2nd 3000 m 8:35.92
1987 World Indoor Championships Indianapolis, United States 3rd 3000 m 8:47.92
World Championships Rome, Italy 2nd 3000 m 8:39.45
1988 Olympic Games Seoul, South Korea heats 3000 m DNF
1989 European Indoor Championships The Hague, Netherlands 3rd 3000 m 9:15.49

References

  1. ^ a b c Maricica Puică. Sports Reference
  2. ^ a b c Maricica Puică at World Athletics Edit this at Wikidata
Records
Preceded by Women's mile world record holder
9 September 1982 – 21 August 1985
Succeeded by
Sporting positions
Preceded by Women's 3000 m Best Year Performance
1981
Succeeded by