Elisabeta Ionescu (20 March 1953 – 4 June 2019) was 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 ...

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...

player who competed in the

1976 Summer Olympics The 1976 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Montreal 1976 (), were an international multi-sport event held from July 17 to August 1, 1976, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Montreal ...

. She was part of the Romanian handball team, which finished fourth in the Olympic tournament. She played all five matches.Olympic results

Early life

Elisabeth Ionescu was a member of Romania's selected winners of the silver medal at the Women's Handball World Championship in 1973, held in

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

and of the Romanians who ranked fourth in the 1975 Women's Handball World Championship USSR. Following an analysis session with all coaches of women handball teams, held in 1975 after the World Championship, it was established by open vote the rankings in the wider ranks of the selected Romanians. The ranking of the porters was as follows: Lidia Stan (37 votes), Ionescu (30 votes), Viorica Ionică (20 votes), Clara Bartok (10 votes), Doina Copotz (8 votes) In 1976, the 22 players elected by vote were watched in training matches and in the domestic championship, and the group was then confined to 16 players with whom the final stage of homogenization and training was attacked. Ionescu was ultimately selected to be part of the 14 of the Romanian handball national team which won the fourth place at the 1976 Montreal Summer Olympics. She played in all five matches. Ionescu was called for the first time in 1971 to the national team of Romania, for which she played a total of 81 games.

References

1953 births 2019 deaths Romanian female handball players Olympic handball players for Romania Handball players at the 1976 Summer Olympics Place of birth missing 20th-century Romanian sportswomen {{Romania-handball-bio-stub