View source for Iulia Olteanu

{{short description|Romanian long-distance runner}}
{{MedalTableTop}}
{{MedalSport  | Women's [[Athletics (sport)|athletics]]}}
{{MedalCountry| {{ROM}} }}
{{MedalCompetition|[[IAAF World Half Marathon Championships|World Half Marathon Championships]]}}
{{MedalSilver |[[1994 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships|1994 Oslo]]|Half marathon}}
{{MedalCompetition|[[Universiade]]}}
{{MedalGold |[[1993 Summer Universiade|1993 Buffalo]]|[[Athletics at the 1993 Summer Universiade|10,000 m]]}}
{{MedalGold |[[1995 Summer Universiade|1995 Fukuoka]]|[[Athletics at the 1995 Summer Universiade|10,000 m]]}}
{{MedalBottom}}
'''Iulia Olteanu''' (née Negură; born 26 January 1967) is a [[Romania]]n former [[long-distance runner]] who competed in [[cross country running|cross country]], [[track and field|track]] and [[road running]] events.

She made her breakthrough on the international scene with consecutive wins at the [[IAAF World Women's Road Race Championships]] in 1990 and 1991. She helped Romania to a number of team medals at the [[IAAF World Half Marathon Championships]] and [[IAAF World Cross Country Championships]], and also ran in the [[10,000 metres]] at two editions of the [[IAAF World Championships in Athletics]] as well as the [[1996 Summer Olympics]].

Olteanu was the [[silver medal]]list at the [[1994 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships]], setting a lifetime best of 1:09:15. She was victorious at the [[1996 European Cross Country Championships]] but was stripped of her title as she had failed a test for the steroid [[stanozolol]] and received a two-year competitive ban for doping. After her ban had expired, she was again selected for the Romanian cross country and half marathon teams, but failed to medal. She competed in her first [[marathon]] in 2002 but retired from international competition in 2003.

Among her other achievements are two consecutive 10,000&nbsp;m titles at the [[Summer Universiade]], as well as circuit wins at the [[Great South Run]], [[Sapporo Half Marathon]] and the [[Chiba International Cross Country|Chiba]] and [[Fukuoka International Cross Country|Fukuoka Cross Country]] meetings.

==Career==

===Early career===
Born Iulia Negură in [[Piatra Neamț]], Romania,<ref>[https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ne/iulia-negura-1.html Iulia Negură] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120807033832/http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ne/iulia-negura-1.html |date=2012-08-07 }}. Sports Reference. Retrieved on 2011-03-03.</ref> she made her debut at the [[IAAF World Cross Country Championships]] in 1987, coming in 50th place. She made her breakthrough three years later with a twelfth-place finish at the [[1990 IAAF World Cross Country Championships]], followed by a win at the [[IAAF World Women's Road Race Championships]].<ref name=Womens>[http://www.gbrathletics.com/ic/road.htm IAAF World Women's Road Race Championships]. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2011-03-03.</ref> She took a road win at the [[Foulées de Suresnes]] over 10&nbsp;km in October.<ref>[https://www.arrs.run/HP_Sures10.htm Foulées de Suresnes 10 km]. [[Association of Road Racing Statisticians]] (2010-07-06). Retrieved on 2011-03-03.</ref> She made her global track debut at the [[1991 World Championships in Athletics]] in [[Tokyo]] where she was 17th over [[10,000 metres]].<ref name=IAAFBio>[http://www.iaaf.org/athletes/biographies/letter=0/athcode=61360/index.html Olteanu Iulia]. [[IAAF]]. Retrieved on 2011-03-03.</ref> She also managed three national titles over that distance in her career.<ref>[http://www.gbrathletics.com/nc/rom.htm Romanian Championships]. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2011-03-03.</ref> She took a second world title over 15&nbsp;km at the 1991 Women's Road Championships.<ref name=Womens/>

===World and Olympic competition===
In 1992 she reached the top twenty at the [[1992 IAAF World Cross Country Championships]] and also ran at the newly inaugurated [[1992 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships|IAAF World Half Marathon Championships]], where she was tenth overall.<ref name=IAAFBio/> Among her appearances on the circuit that year was a win over 10 miles at the [[Great South Run]] in [[Portsmouth]].<ref>[http://www.gbrathletics.com/bc/road.htm Great South Run]. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2011-03-03.</ref>  She won the race for a second time the next year and improved upon her previous position at the [[1993 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships]], finishing the race in seventh to help Romania to the women's team title with [[Elena Murgoci]] and [[Anuța Cătună]].<ref name=WHM>[http://www.iaaf.org/mm/Document/Athletes/Athletes/04/79/72/20081008100327_httppostedfile_Rio2008FF_6747.pdf IAAF World Half Marathon Championships 1992-2005 Facts & Figures] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629144248/http://www.iaaf.org/mm/Document/Athletes/Athletes/04/79/72/20081008100327_httppostedfile_Rio2008FF_6747.pdf |date=2011-06-29 }}. [[IAAF]]. Retrieved on 2011-03-03.</ref> She represented Romania in the 10,000&nbsp;m at the [[1993 World Championships in Athletics]], coming sixteenth.<ref name=IAAFBio/>

She was first at the 1994 [[Marseille-Cassis Classique Internationale]] and set a course record of 1:10:32.<ref>[https://www.arrs.run/HP_MCa20.htm Marseille-Cassis 20.3 km]. [[Association of Road Racing Statisticians]] (2010-11-01). Retrieved on 2011-03-03.</ref> Olteanu ran a personal best of 1:09:15 for the half marathon event at the [[1994 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships]] to take the [[silver medal]] behind [[Elana Meyer]], as well as leading the Romanian women to a second consecutive team title.<ref name=WHM/> At the [[20 Kilomètres de Paris]] in October she won in a time of 1:08:04.<ref>[https://www.arrs.run/HP_Par20.htm 20K de Paris]. [[Association of Road Racing Statisticians]] (2010-10-12). Retrieved on 2011-03-03.</ref> She was studying at university during this period and as a student she won the [[Summer Universiade]] titles in the 10,000&nbsp;m in 1993 and 1995,<ref name=RC>[http://www.gbrathletics.com/ic/wsgw.htm World Student Games (Universiade) - Women]. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2011-03-03.</ref> as well a [[gold medal]] at the 1994 [[FISU Cross Country Championships]].<ref>[http://www.gbrathletics.com/ic/xc.htm World Student Cross Country Championships]. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2011-03-03.</ref>

She was 29th in the long race at the [[1995 IAAF World Cross Country Championships]], sharing in the team [[bronze medal]], while her eleventh-place finish at the [[1995 European Cross Country Championships]] brought Romania the team silver medals at that event. Olteanu ran at the [[1995 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships]] but did not manage to finish the race on that occasion. At the beginning of 1996 she won the [[Chiba International Cross Country]] in Japan.<ref name=Chiba>[https://www.arrs.run/HP_ChbXC.htm Chiba International Crosscountry]. [[Association of Road Racing Statisticians]] (2011-02-14). Retrieved on 2011-03-03.</ref> She took twelfth place at the [[1996 IAAF World Cross Country Championships]], helping Romania to another team bronze, and made her Olympic debut on the track in August. Setting a career best mark of 31:26.46 minutes, she came eighth in the women's 10,000&nbsp;m at the [[Athletics at the 1996 Summer Olympics|1996 Atlanta Olympics]].<ref name=IAAFBio/>

===Stripped title and doping ban===
Olteanu ended the year with her first win at a major continental competition, taking the [[gold medal]] at the [[1996 European Cross Country Championships]]. However, her performance did not stand as she had failed an out-of-competition drug test in early December, two weeks before the event. She received a four-year ban from competition for her use of [[stanozolol]] (a [[Use of performance-enhancing drugs in sport|performance-enhancing steroid]].<ref>[https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/athletics-negura-faces-drugs-ban-1284380.html Athletics: Negura faces drugs ban]. ''[[The Independent]]'' (1997-01-21). Retrieved on 2011-03-03.</ref> Her ban came at a time when numerous Romanian athletes were punished for doping infractions, marking a determined effort by [[Iolanda Balaş]], the president of the [[Romanian Athletics Federation]] (FRA), to clean up the national athletics scene.<ref>[https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/athletics-romanians-sack-coach-1266337.html Athletics: Romanians sack coach ]. ''[[The Independent]]'' (1997-04-10). Retrieved on 2011-03-03.</ref> In spite of this, the FRA opted to give Olteanu a two-year ban for her failed test, superseding the longer four-year ban set in place by the [[International Association of Athletics Federations]]. She became eligible for competition again in December 1998.<ref>[http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-18020871.html Romania Defends Its Two-Year Negura Ban]{{dead link|date=February 2019|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}. [[Xinhua News Agency]] (1997-02-21). Retrieved on 2011-03-03.</ref>

===Later career===
She made her international return at the [[1999 European Cross Country Championships]] and helped Romania to the team silver alongside [[Constantina Diţă]]. Her efforts were principally focused on cross country over this period: she won the [[Fukuoka International Cross Country]] in 2000 and ran in both the long and short races at the [[2000 IAAF World Cross Country Championships]], finishing 46th in the long race and 21st over the shorter distance.<ref name=IAAFBio/><ref>"An eighty years of history of Japan Association of Athletics Federations" (日本陸上競技連盟八十年史), 2005, [[Japan Association of Athletics Federations]]. pp.150-151.</ref> The following year she won both the Chiba and Fukuoka races in Japan at the beginning of 2001,<ref name=Chiba/> going on to place fifteenth in the short race at the [[2001 IAAF World Cross Country Championships]]. After taking the national title in the half marathon,<ref name=RC/> she ran at that year's [[2001 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships|World Half Marathon Championships]] and came 22nd in the rankings.<ref name=IAAFBio/> She also competed on the Japanese road circuit in 2001 and was third at both the [[Sapporo Half Marathon]] and [[Kyoto Half Marathon]].<ref>[http://www.aimsworldrunning.org/statistics/2001Statistics.htm 2001 AIMS ROAD RACE LISTS (statistics)]. AIMS. Retrieved on 2011-03-03.</ref>

Olteanu decided to make a change up to the [[marathon]] distance in 2002 and she finished the [[Vienna City Marathon]] in a time of 2:40:14 hours, placing sixth.<ref>de la Varre, René (October 2002). [http://runningtimes.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=6345&PageNum=2 2002 Vienna City Marathon] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110715213658/http://runningtimes.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=6345&PageNum=2 |date=2011-07-15 }}. ''[[Running Times]]''. Retrieved on 2011-03-03.</ref> The 2003 season saw her final year of international competition: despite a win at the national half marathon championships, she failed to finish the race at the World Championships that year.<ref name=IAAFBio/>

==Personal bests==
*[[5000 metres]] - 15:06.73 mins (1999)
*[[10,000 metres]] - 31:26.46 mins (1996)
*[[Half marathon]] - 1:09:15 hrs (1994)
*[[Marathon]] - 2:40:14 hrs (2002)
:<small>All information from IAAF Profile</small><ref name=IAAFBio/>

==See also==
*[[List of doping cases in athletics]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Footer World Women's Road Race Champions}}
{{Footer Universiade Champions 10000m Women}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Olteanu, Iulia}}
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:1987 births]]
[[Category:Sportspeople from Piatra Neamț]]
[[Category:Romanian female long-distance runners]]
[[Category:Romanian female marathon runners]]
[[Category:Olympic athletes for Romania]]
[[Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1996 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field)]]
[[Category:FISU World University Games gold medalists for Romania]]
[[Category:Doping cases in athletics]]
[[Category:Romanian sportspeople in doping cases]]
[[Category:IAAF World Women's Road Race Championships winners]]