Elisabeta Lipă

Elisabeta Lipă

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Personal information
Born	26 October 1964 (1964-10-26) (age 59) Siret, Suceava County, Romania
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Weight	80 kg (180 lb)
Sport
Sport	Rowing
Club	Dinamo Bucureşti
Medal record Representing Romania Olympic Games Los Angeles 1984 Double sculls Seoul 1988 Double sculls Seoul 1988 Quadruple sculls Barcelona 1992 Single sculls Barcelona 1992 Double sculls Atlanta 1996 Eights Sydney 2000 Eights Athens 2004 Eights World Rowing Championships 1982 Lucerne Quadruple sculls 1983 Duisburg Double sculls 1984 Montreal Eights 1985 Hazewinkel Double sculls 1986 Nottingham Double sculls 1987 Copenhagen Double sculls 1989 Bled Single scull 1989 Bled Double sculls 1991 Vienna Single sculls 1991 Vienna Double sculls 1994 Indianapolis Coxless pairs 1994 Indianapolis Eights 2003 Milan Eights

Elisabeta Lipă
Minister of Youth and Sport
Incumbent
Assumed office 17 November 2015
President	Klaus Iohannis
Prime Minister	Dacian Cioloș
Preceded by	Gabriela Szabo

Elisabeta Lipă (Romanian pronunciation: [elisaˈbeta ˈlipə]; born Oleniuc on 26 October 1964) is a retired rower and government official from Romania. She is the most decorated rower in the history of the Olympics, winning five gold, two silver and one bronze medals. She holds the record amongst rowers for the most years between gold medals, at 20 years.

Since 2004, Lipă has served in various government positions including Minister of Youth and Sport in the current cabinet under Prime Minister Dacian Cioloș. Since 2009, she has also served as the President of the Romanian Rowing Federation and the Dinamo București Sports Club.

Career

Lipă debuted at the age of 19 at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California, where she won her first gold medal in the double sculls event. She won her most recent gold medal in the eight-oared boat at the Athens Summer Olympics in 2004. She is the only person to win a gold medal in the two premiere rowing events: the single scull and the eight oared boat. She is also one of very few women to win a gold medal in both a sculling (two oars per person) and a sweep (one oar per person) event. (Canada's Kathleen Heddle and Marnie McBean accomplished the same, sculling and sweep gold medals, in 1992 and 1996.)

In 2004, she became the first female rower to compete at six Olympics. This was first done by Czech rower Jiri Ptak (cox) in 1992 and equalled in 2008 by Canadian Lesley Thompson (cox), Estonian Jüri Jaanson, and Australian James Tomkins.

Later Life

She was awarded the 2008 Thomas Keller Medal at the Rowing World Cup in Lucerne. As of November 2015, she is the Romanian Minister of Youth and Sport in Cioloș Cabinet.

See also

• List of athletes with the most appearances at Olympic Games

External links

File:Elisabeta Lipă 2004 Romanian stamp.jpg

Elisabeta Lipă on 2004 Romanian stamps

• Profile on IOC site
• Elisabeta Lipă at WorldRowing.com from FISA
• World and Olympic Championships database