Athlete of the week – Weightlifter Mihaela Cambei
The best Romanian weightlifter right now won her first gold medal at a World Championship.
Florin Orban, 07.10.2025, 13:45
The world’s elite weightlifters are competing these days at the World Championships hosted by the Norwegian city of Førde. Over 500 athletes from 93 countries are participating in the first international test ahead of the new Olympic cycle, which will end with the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028. Romania has enrolled four athletes in the competition: Cosmina Pană and Mihaela Cambei in the 53kg category, Andreea Cotruţă, in the 63kg category, and the Cuban-born athlete Luis Rodriguez, in the 110kg category. The best performer so far has been Mihaela Cambei, who won the gold medal in the 53kg category on Friday in the snatch event and silver in the clean and jerk and total events. Following these performances, Radio Romania International has designated Mihaela Cambei Athlete of the Week.
At the Paris Olympics last year, Mihaela Cambei won silver in the 49kg category. Since this category has little chance of remaining on the Olympic program in 2028, Mihaela moved up to 53 kilograms. In the competition in Førde, she lifted 90 kilograms in the snatch on her first attempt. She then missed an attempt at 93 kilograms, but mobilized and managed 94 on her third lift. Her main opponent, Hyon-gyong Kang of Nort Korea, was left with the 93 kilograms lifted on her second attempt, after missing on her third attempt when she wanted to lift 96. The North Korean athlete, however, prevailed in her favorite event, snatch, lifting 121 kilograms, 7 more than Mihaela, and thus won the gold medal in total, with 214 kilograms.
Mihaela Valentina Cambei was born in Dofteana commune, Bacău county (east), on November 18, 2002. In 2018, at just 16 years old, she won bronze in the 48kg category at the Summer Youth Olympic Games, hosted by Buenos Aires, Argentina. In senior competitions, in 2022, at the World Championships in Bogota, Colombia, she won silver in the 49kg category in the snatch event. Starting 2023, she has dominated the European Championships. Then, at the Paris Olympics last year, she won the only medal for Romanian weightlifters. (VP)
