The Athlete of the Week
Weightlifter Mihaela Cambei.
Florin Orban, 04.11.2025, 13:45
Weightlifting has a rich tradition in Romania, but its popularity has been dropping in recent decades and it no longer enjoys the media attention and institutional support it once benefitted from. It is still popular in local communities where it has a long-standing tradition, but it is not attracting the masses or significant sponsorships. Basically, public interest in this sport is greater outside Romania, where Romanian weightlifters enjoy more appreciation than they do in their home country, as their international results are good, as demonstrated at the European Junior and Under 23 Weightlifting Championships in Durrës, Albania. Mihaela Cambei again put on a stellar performance, winning the snatch and jerk titles as well as the total, in the women’s 53 kg under 23 category. For these achievements, she is Radio Romania International’s Athlete of the Week.
In the snatch event, Mihaela Cambei lifted 95 kilograms, one more than what earned her her first gold medal at a world championship, in Førde, Norway, at the beginning of October. In the jerk event, she lifted 110 kg, 4 fewer than in Norway, but enough to gather 205 kg in total, winning her the first place, with 14 kg more than the silver medallist, Turkey’s Cansel Özkan.
Mihaela Valentina Cambei was born in Dofteana, in Bacău county, on 18th November 2002. In 2018, aged 16, she won the bronze medal in the 48 kg category at the Summer Youth Olympics hosted by Buenos Aires, in Argentina. In 2022, she won the silver medal in the snatch event at the World Championships in Bogota, Columbia. She went on to dominate the European championships since 2023. She won Romania’s first weightlifting medal this century at last year’s Olympic Games in Paris, a silver in the 49 kg category. And this year, in Førde, she became world senior champion in the snatch event in the 53 kg category.
