Elisabeta Lipă (Romanian pronunciation: [elisaˈbeta ˈlipə]; née Oleniuc on 26 October 1964) is a retired rower and government official from Romania. She is the most decorated rower in the history of the Olympics, winning five gold, two silver and one bronze medals.^[1] She holds the record amongst rowers for the most years between gold medals, at 20 years.

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Elisabeta Lipă

Lipă in 1992
Personal information
Birth name	Elisabeta Oleniuc
Born	26 October 1964 (1964-10-26) (age 59) Siret, Suceava County, Romania[1][2]
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)[1]
Weight	80 kg (176 lb)
Minister of Youth and Sport
In office 17 November 2015 – 4 January 2017
President	Klaus Iohannis
Prime Minister	Dacian Cioloș
Preceded by	Gabriela Szabo
Succeeded by	Marius-Alexandru Dunca
Sport
Sport	Rowing
Club	CS Dinamo București[1]
Medal record Representing  Romania Olympic Games 1984 Los Angeles Double sculls 1992 Barcelona Single sculls 1996 Atlanta Eight 2000 Sydney Eight 2004 Athens Eight 1988 Seoul Double sculls 1992 Barcelona Double sculls 1988 Seoul Quadruple sculls World Championships 1989 Bled Single scull 1985 Hazewinkel Double sculls 1986 Nottingham Double sculls 1987 Copenhagen Double sculls 1989 Bled Double sculls 1991 Vienna Single sculls 1991 Vienna Double sculls 1994 Indianapolis Coxless pairs 2003 Milan Eights 1982 Lucerne Quadruple sculls 1983 Duisburg Double sculls 1984 Montreal Eights 1994 Indianapolis Eights

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Since 2004, Lipă has served in various government positions including Minister of Youth and Sport under Dacian Cioloș from 2015 to 2017. Since 2009, she has also served as the president of the Romanian Rowing Federation and the Dinamo București Sports Club.^[3]

Lipă made her debut at the age of 19 at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California, where she won her first gold medal in the double sculls event. She won her most recent gold medal in the eight at the Athens Summer Olympics in 2004. She is the only person to win a gold medal in the two premiere rowing events: the single scull and the eight. She is also one of very few women to win a gold medal in both a sculling (two oars per person) and a sweep (one oar per person) event. (Canada's Kathleen Heddle and Marnie McBean accomplished the same, sculling and sweep gold medals, in 1992 and 1996.)

In 2004, she became the first female rower and the second rower overall to compete at six Olympics. This was first done by Czechoslovak rower Jiří Pták (cox) in 1992 and equalled in 2008 by Canadian Lesley Thompson (cox), Estonian Jüri Jaanson, and Australian James Tomkins.

In 2008 she was awarded the Thomas Keller Medal at the Rowing World Cup in Lucerne^[4] and became an honorary citizen of her native town Siret. From November 2015 to January 2017, she served as the Romanian Minister of Youth and Sport in the Cioloș Cabinet.^[2]

• List of athletes with the most appearances at Olympic Games
• List of multiple Olympic gold medalists
• List of multiple Summer Olympic medalists