Anca Măroiu (née Băcioiu, born 5 August 1983) is a

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

n épée fencer. She is double team world champion, in 2010 and 2011, silver medallist at the 2012 European Fencing Championships and three-time European team champion (2006, 2009 and 2011).

Career

Măroiu first took up

gymnastics Gymnastics is a group of sport that includes physical exercises requiring Balance (ability), balance, Strength training, strength, Flexibility (anatomy), flexibility, agility, Motor coordination, coordination, artistry and endurance. The movem ...

, but found herself too tall in primary school. She switched to fencing, learning under Nicolae Mihăilescu, then Mircea Alecu. Being of a combative temperament, she chose

épée The (, ; ), also rendered as epee in English, is the largest and heaviest of the three weapons used in the sport of fencing. The modern derives from the 19th-century , a weapon which itself derives from the French small sword. This contains a ...

, the weapon of the

duel A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two people with matched weapons. During the 17th and 18th centuries (and earlier), duels were mostly single combats fought with swords (the rapier and later the small sword), but beginning in ...

. When she was 14 years old she was selected into the national training centre for juniors within the Petrache Trișcu sports high school in

Craiova Craiova (, also , ) is the largest city in southwestern Romania, List of Romanian cities, the seventh largest city in the country and the capital of Dolj County, situated near the east bank of the river Jiu River, Jiu in central Oltenia. It i ...

under Dan Podeanu's coaching. She won the team bronze medal at the 2002 Junior European Championships in Conegliano. At the 2006 European Championships in İzmir she reached the semifinals, where she was defeated by Germany's Claudia Bokel and came away with a bronze medal. In the team event, Romania overcame the Czech Republic, Estonia and Russia. They defeated Hungary by a single hit in the final, winning the first European title in the history of Romanian épée fencing. They won the European Championships again in 2009 and 2011. With

Ana Maria Brânză Ana Maria Popescu, formerly known as Ana Maria Brânză (, born 26 November 1984), is a Romanian left-handed épée Fencing, fencer. Popescu is a four-time team European champion, 2013 individual European champion, and two-time team world champi ...

Loredana Dinu Loredana Dinu (born Iordăchioiu; born 2 April 1984) is a retired Romanian épée fencer, twice World champion and twice European champion with Romania. Biography Dinu began fencing at age 11 after coaches from different sports did a presentatio ...

and

Simona Gherman Simona Gherman (née Alexandru; born 12 April 1985) is a retired Romanian épée fencer, European champion in 2012 and 2016. She was twice team World Champion in 2010 and 2011 and five-time team European Champion in 2008, 2009, 2011, 2014, and 20 ...

, Măroiu won the 2010 World Championships in Paris after they defeated Germany in the final. The following year, she reached the semifinals in the individual event, but lost on priority to

Li Na Li Na (born 26 February 1982) is a Chinese former professional tennis player. She was WTA rankings, ranked world No. 2 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association. Li won nine WTA Tour-level singles titles, including two Grand Slam (t ...

of China. In the team event Romania retained their crown after prevailing over China in the final. In 2012, Măroiu reached the final at the

European Championships A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

in Legnano. She could not win against teammate Gherman and came away with a silver medal. She competed in the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. After seeing off Ukraine's

Olena Kryvytska Olena Serhiivna Kryvytska (; born 23 February 1987) is a Ukrainian fencer. Career Kryvytska has won three world championship bronze medals. She competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in the Women's épée, and was defeated in the second round. ...

and Russia's Anna Sivkova she fell to South Korea's Shin A-lam in the quarter-finals. In the team event, top seeded Romania suffered a surprise defeat to South Korea and finished sixth after the placement matches. After this failure she, Gherman and Dinu decided to take a break in their career to look after their families. In 2014, Măroiu gave birth to a son, Petre Luca. She announced her return to competition in early 2015.

References

External links

* *
archive
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Maroiu, Anca 1983 births Living people Romanian female fencers Fencers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic fencers for Romania Romanian sportswomen Sportspeople from Craiova Romanian épée fencers 21st-century Romanian sportswomen