Maria Cioncan (19 June 1977 – 21 January 2007) was a middle distance runner from

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 ...

, best known for winning a bronze medal in the 1500 metres event at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

Life

Born in

Maieru Maieru (; ) is a commune in Bistrița-Năsăud County, Transylvania, 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, H ...

, she set personal bests in both 800 and 1500 metres during the games. Her 2005 season was cut short, and her only notable competition appearance was at the SPAR European Cup in Firenze, Italy where she won the 800 (2:00.88) and placed second in the 1500 (4:07.39). Cioncan's last competition on the top international level was the 2006 World Indoor Championships, where she failed to progress past the first heat of the 800m. Earlier that indoor season she ran an indoor personal best of 2:01.70. On 21 January 2007 Cioncan died in a car accident near

Pleven Pleven ( ) is the seventh most populous city in Bulgaria. Located in the northern part of the country, it is the administrative centre of Pleven Province, as well as of the subordinate Pleven municipality. It is the biggest economic center in ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

. She was returning from a training camp in Greece when her vehicle flipped over and struck a tree, killing her instantly.

Achievements

Personal bests

800 metres The 800 metres, or 800 meters (American and British English spelling differences#-re.2C -er, US spelling), is a common track running event. It is the shortest commonly run middle-distance running event. The 800 metres is run over two laps of a ...

- 1:59.44 min (2004) *

1500 metres The 1500 metres or 1500-metre run is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athletics since 1983. It is equivalent to 1.5 kilomet ...

- 3:58.39 min (2004) *

3000 metres The 3000 metres or 3000-metre run is a track running event, also commonly known as the "3K" or "3K run", where 7.5 laps are run around an outdoor 400 m track, or 15 laps around a 200 m indoor track. It is debated whether the 3000 m sho ...

- 8:57.71 min (2002)

External links

* * *http://www.focus-fen.net/index.php?id=n103809 1977 births 2007 deaths Romanian female middle-distance runners Sportspeople from Bistrița-Năsăud County Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Romania Road incident deaths in Bulgaria Olympic bronze medalists in athletics (track and field) Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for Romania Deaths of competitors in athletics {{Romania-Olympic-medalist-stub