Iolanda Balaș (12 December 1936 – 11 March 2016) was a Romanian athlete, an Olympic champion and former world record holder in the women's high jump. She was the first Romanian woman to win an Olympic gold medal and is considered to have been one of the greatest high jumpers of the twentieth century.

Balaș was born in Timișoara into a family of Hungarian descent. Her mother, Etel Bozó was a homemaker, while her father, Frigyes, was originally a locksmith. Her father served in the Hungarian army until he was captured and brought to the Soviet Union and later back to Hungary, where he settled in Budapest. Balaș tried to reunite the family and move to Hungary, but although she managed to obtain an Hungarian passport in 1947, she was not allowed to leave Romania. When asked in an interview in 2005 whether she had ever thought about defection, she said that it had crossed her mind; however, as it could have resulted in serious retaliation against her relatives, she did not want to risk it. In the interview she said, "I feel sorry that I did not win Olympics for Hungary. But a person represents herself and after that a nation. It was not given for me to bear the Hungarian colors, to make happy those who speak my mother tongue. It evolved this way and I feel sorry for it, but I would have gone mad if I would thought constantly about this contradictory situation. I hope that besides Romanians also Hungarians are proud of me."

Career

In 1953 she transferred from Timisoara club "Electrica" to CCA (CSA Steaua). After finishing fifth in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, she won Olympic gold medals at Rome in 1960 (becoming the first Romanian woman to do so) and Tokyo in 1964. At the 1964 Olympics she competed with a torn tendon, which forced her later to withdraw from the 1966 European Championships. Nevertheless, between 1957 and 1966, Balaș won 150 consecutive competitions, not including qualifying competitions or exhibitions. She improved the world record 14 times, from 1.75 m to 1.91 m, and equalled it once outdoors and once indoors. She was the first woman to jump over six feet. Her technique was a sophisticated version of the scissors technique.

Her record of 1.91 m, set in 1961, lasted until the end of 1971 (beaten by Ilona Gusenbauer from Austria), when jumpers with a more efficient technique (the straddle technique, and later the Fosbury style) took over.

After retiring from competition in 1967, Balaș married her former coach Ion Soter (János Sőtér), and taught physical education in Bucharest. Between 1988 and 2005 she was president of the Romanian Athletics Federation.

Death

Balaș was diagnosed several years ago with type II diabetes. Due to ill health, she was hospitalized many times. In late February 2016, she went to the hospital with digestive problems and was discharged, but returned to the hospital two days later. She died at Elias Hospital in Bucharest, Romania, at the age of 79.

Awards

In 2010 Balaș received the royal decoration "Nihil Sine Deo" for special merits to the Romanian sports from Michael I of Romania, in a ceremony held at the Elisabeta Palace in Bucharest, for the way she led the Romanian Athletics Federation and to promote Romanian excellence in sport and young athletes. In 2000, Track & Field News voted Balaș as the best female high jumper of the 20th century. She was inducted into the IAAF Hall of Fame in 2012.