Olympic Perspectives

Weightlifter Loredana Toma

Florin Orban, 23.04.2020, 13:45

World and European weightlifting champion
Loredana Toma in an interview to Romanian news agency AGERPRES said she got used
to observing the lockdown at home, against the backdrop of the COVID-19
pandemic. However, Loredana went on to specify that she literally broke the
floor of her gym hall at home with her barbells, after two days of training.
With the consent of the property managers of the block of flats she lives in, Loredana
Toma had a gym hall placed in a ground-floor room of her block of flats, since
it was not possible for her to continue training in her fourth-floor flat.

A world champion in
2017, Loredana Toma has a daily four-hour training session. However, it’s
recovery she misses most while at home, but Loredana has sea-salt baths
instead. Loredana Toma competes in the 64-kilogram category and says that these
days, motivation is the main problem. However, she hopes for the European Championships
to be held this year, now that the event has been delayed for June 12-21 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The 24-year old athlete has a dream; still being
in top shape, Loredana would have really liked the Olympics Games to be held this
very year, even on empty premises. They were postponed for 2021, but Loredana says
she still has a real chance to win a medal.

Loredana Toma was
born on May 10, 1995, in the northern Romanian town of Botosani. She won several
gold medals in juniors and seniors European Championships. In the seniors’ event,
in 2013 and 2014, Loredana walked away with silver in the 58-kilogram category.
She was banned from competition after testing positive for Stanozolol, between
2015 and 2016. Since the European championships held in Croatia in April 2017,
Loredana Toma has been dominating the 63-kilogram category, in the snatch as
well as in the clean-and- jerk style. In December 2017 she confirmed her supremacy
at the World Championships in Anaheim, the USA, where she won three more gold
medals. At the European Championships in Bucharest, in 2018, Loredana Toma yet
again had a win-all record. She won three other gold medals at the 2019 edition
of the European Championships held in Batumi. At the 2020 edition of the World
Championships in Thailand, Loredana walked away with two bronze medals in the
64-kilogram category, in the clean and jerk style and overall.

(Translation by Eugen Nasta)

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