Dorina Mihai (born 1 June 1981) is a Romanian sabre fencer, world champion in 2003.
| Dorina Mihai | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Dorina Gabriela Mihai | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 1 June 1981 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Residence | Bucharest, Romania | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Weapon | sabre | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Hand | right-handed | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | CS Dinamo București | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Retired | 2007 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| FIE ranking | rankings (archive) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Biography
editMihai took up fencing in primary school on the advice of a teacher, who directed her to foil.[1] Disappointed not to earn any title in eleven years of practice, she thought of giving up, but eventually decided to try sabre, a weapon in which she quickly obtained results.[1]
47th in world rankings before the event, she reached the final of the 2003 World Fencing Championships in Havana after defeating Cuba's Ana Faez Miclin in the quarter-finals, then Italy's Gioia Marzocca. She met reigning world champion Tan Xue of China and defeated her by a single hit to win the world title.[2] By circumstance Mihai had found herself at the championships without her fencing mask and had been forced to use a Lexan visor mask, promoted by the International Fencing Federation because it shows the fencer's face. By winning the competition, Mihai also received a prize of $10.000 offered by the federation to the best-ranked athlete wearing a Lexan mask.[2] For her performance Mihai was named "athlete of the year" along with weightlifter Valeriu Calancea.[3]
Mihai decided to forgo the 2004 Summer Olympics to marry fellow fencer Cristian Lupu, a reserve in the men's national team, and to give birth to a son, Luca Nicolas.[1] Cătălina Gheorghițoaia, who went in her place, finished fourth. Mihai's return to competition did not yield further results. When the women's national sabre team was disbanded for lack of funds, Mihai decided to retire from competition.[3] Her club CS Dinamo București being subordinated to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, she decided to join the Romanian Police.[4] She worked three years in the field before joining the Ilfov County Police Inspectorate.[4]
References
edit- ^ a b c Oana Grecea. "Campioană Mondială la sabie se căsătorește anul acesta" (in Romanian). Eva.ro. Archived from the original on 2014-12-15. Retrieved 2014-12-15.
- ^ a b "Dorina Mihai, campioană mondială la sabie". Adevărul (in Romanian). 10 October 2003.
- ^ a b "Dorina Mihai a depus armele învinsă de compatrioți". Evenimentul Zilei (in Romanian). 14 December 2007.
- ^ a b Oana Dușmănescu (16 October 2012). "Inspector Mihai, actele la control! » Singura campioană mondială la sabie a României lucrează la IPJ Ilfov". Gazeta Sporturilor (in Romanian).