Mihaela Melinte

Mihaela Melinte (born 27 March 1975 in Bacău) is a Romanian hammer thrower. She holds the world junior record, and with 76.07 metres she held the world record until Tatyana Lysenko beat it in July 2005. The twelve-time Romanian national champion, Melinte is also a former European and World champion, but has never participated in the Olympics.

She failed a drugs test at the Notturna di Milano meeting in 2000 (ruling her out of the 2000 Sydney Olympics) and she was banned from the sport for two years for taking nandrolone (an anabolic steroid). Following her ban, she never again reached a major global podium or threw over 72 metres – some way off her previous world record mark.

She took second place in the women's hammer at the 2005 European Cup Winter Throwing, but was less successful at the 2006 edition, where she finished eleventh overall. She finished fourth in both the 2007 and 2008 European Cup Winter Throwing events. She was the bronze medallist at the 2005 Jeux de la Francophonie.

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