Natalia Mărăşescu (née Andrei on 3 October 1952) is a retired Romanian middle distance runner who specialized mainly in the 1500 metres. She competed in this event at the 1976 and 1980 Olympics and placed ninth in 1980.^[1]

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Natalia Mărășescu

Personal information
Born	3 October 1952 (1952-10-03) (age 71) Căpreni, Romania[1]
Height	166 cm (5 ft 5 in)[1]
Weight	52 kg (115 lb)
Sport
Sport	Athletics
Event(s)	1500 m, 3000 m
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)	1500 m – 3:58.2 (1979) 3000 m – 8:33.53 (1978)[2]
Medal record Representing  Romania European Championships 1978 Prague 1500 m 1978 Prague 3000 m European Indoor Championships 1975 Katowice 1500 m 1976 Munich 1500 m 1978 Milan 1500 m 1979 Vienna 1500 m Universiade 1977 Sofia 1500 m 1979 Mexico City 1500 m

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Mărăşescu set two world records over the mile; 4:23.8 minutes on 21 May 1977 in Bucharest, and 4:22.09 minutes on 27 January 1979 in Auckland. The record was broken by Mary Slaney won ran in 4:21.68 minutes a year later in the same city. The current record is 4:12.33. She briefly held the record in the 5000 metres, with 15:41.4 minutes. This record lasted less than four months before being broken by Jan Merrill.

Mărăşescu was banned 18 months for taking anabolic steroids in 1979.^[3][4] After 8 months Mărăşescu was reinstated^[5] after IAAF President Adriaan Paulen of the Netherlands said that an 18-month suspension in the steroid case would have kept the women^[4] out of the Moscow Olympics, which would have constituted "an extra penalty." He said that the IAAF Council had therefore reinstated them for "humane reasons."