MARICICA PUICA

Romania in the past 20 years has compelled recognition in the world of athletics mainly tanks to its long-and middle distance female runners. We also did pretty well in jumps or throws, yet our top athletes in these events have never seen the fame of Gabriela Szabo or Violeta Beclea Szekely. Romanian women runners’ great names can be found as early as the 1950s, when Edith Treybal set a world record in the one-mile event. Then in the 1970s Natalia Andrei managed a series of world records in the one mile and 2,000 meter events. Yet it was not until 1984 when Romanian runners managed to set Olympic records. At the Los Angeles Olymics, Maricica PUICA, in the 3,000 and Doina Melinte, in the 800-meter event, respectively, entered the top-flight world of Olympic champions.

Maricica Puica was born in Iasi, on June 29, 1950. She competed for the Olimpia Bucharest sports club. Specialists said she ran over 90,000 kilometers in training sessions and competitions, that is more than the double of the Earth’s circumference. In her 20 years as a performance athlete, Maricica Puica had an impressive record of 25 gold medals, 21 silver and one bronze.

Maricica’s first great performance occurred when at the age of 17 she reaped the cross-country race Balkan title in Istanbul. In 1978 she became world cross-country race champion with Romania’s team, at that time including Natalia Andrei, Georgeta Gazibara, Antoaneta Iacob and Fita Lovin. Also in the cross-country race, in 1982 and 1984, respectively, Maricica Puica managed to reap the world title in the women’s individual competition.

In her career, Maricica Puica set 6, two European and 15 Balkan records.
In March 1984, Maricica Puica set the new cross-country race world record in New Jersey. In the summer of the same year, she walked home with two medals from the Los Angeles Olympic: one gold in the 3, 000 meters event, and one bonze, in the 1,500 event.

Also in Los Angeles Maricica Puica set two world records in the 3,00 meters event. She was the only runner with a world and an Olympic title reaped the same year.

Maricica Puica’s last great performance occurred in 1989 at the European Championships in the Hague, where she reaped gold in the 3,000 metes event, at the age of 39.

After retiring, Maricica Puica was appointed by Romanian officials National Ambassador for Sports, Tolerance and Fair Play with the Council of Europe.
In 2000 she was decorated with the “FAITHFUL SERVICE” National Order in the Rank of Knight