Ionela Târlea

Ionela Târlea (during marriage Târlea-Manolache; born February 9, 1976 in Craiova, Dolj) is a former athlete, competing internationally for Romania. She won the silver medal in the 400 m hurdles at the 2004 Summer Olympics. At the same Games in Athens, Greece, Târlea helped the Romanian national team to sixth place in the 4 x 400 m relay.

She compelled recognition in top international competitions as early as 1996 at the Atlanta Olympics, when she came 7th in the 400 ms hurdles event. In 1999 at the World Indoor Athletics Championships held in the Japanese city of Maebashi she reaped gold in the 200 m race.

In 2000 in Sydney, Australia, Târlea earned her place again in the finals of the 400 m hurdles event, and came 6th. In 2002 she reaped gold at the European Championships held in Munich, also in the 400 m hurdles, actually her favourite event. A rather uneventful period came for Târlea. It was only in early 2008 that she secured her comeback among the world's top athletes as she came 3rd in the 400 m event held in Stuttgart's Sparkassen Cup. She retired in April 2009, due to long-term injuries.

At club level Târlea competed for Dinamo Bucharest, Fenerbahçe Istanbul and Sporting Portugal athletics.^[1][2]

Achievements

References

External links

• Ionela Târlea competition records at IAAF
• (Romanian) Tirlea de argint!