The Most Famous

ATHLETES from Moldova

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This page contains a list of the greatest Moldovan Athletes. The pantheon dataset contains 6,025 Athletes, 28 of which were born in Moldova. This makes Moldova the birth place of the 66th most number of Athletes behind Ecuador, and Trinidad and Tobago.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Moldovan Athletes of all time. This list of famous Moldovan Athletes is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Moldovan Athletes.

Photo of Douglas

1. Douglas (b. )

With an HPI of 67.64, Douglas is the most famous Moldovan Athlete.  Their biography has been translated into 44 different languages on wikipedia.

Douglas may refer to:

Photo of Lia Manoliu

2. Lia Manoliu (1932 - 1998)

With an HPI of 59.19, Lia Manoliu is the 2nd most famous Moldovan Athlete.  Her biography has been translated into 30 different languages.

Lia Manoliu (Romanian pronunciation: [ˈli.a manoˈli.u]; 25 April 1932 – 9 January 1998) was a Romanian discus thrower who won one gold and two bronze Olympic medals. She was the first track and field athlete to compete at six Olympics (1952–1972).

Photo of Tudor Casapu

3. Tudor Casapu (b. 1963)

With an HPI of 47.36, Tudor Casapu is the 3rd most famous Moldovan Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 20 different languages.

Tudor Casapu (born 18 September 1963) is a Moldovan weightlifter, World Champion and Olympic Champion. He won a gold medal at the 1990 World Weightlifting Championships, and a gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.

Photo of Natalia Valeeva

4. Natalia Valeeva (b. 1969)

With an HPI of 45.86, Natalia Valeeva is the 4th most famous Moldovan Athlete.  Her biography has been translated into 20 different languages.

Natalia Valeeva (born 15 November 1969 in Tîrnauca, Transnistria) is a naturalized Italian archer. She is a five-time Olympian and former world number one, and a native of Moldova, having represented the Unified Team, Moldova and Italy, at the Olympic Games of 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012. She won the individual and team bronze medals in the 1992 Olympic Games.

Photo of Carlos Silva

5. Carlos Silva (b. )

With an HPI of 44.64, Carlos Silva is the 5th most famous Moldovan Athlete.  Their biography has been translated into 5 different languages.

Carlos Silva may refer to: Carlos Silva (baseball) (born 1979), Major League Baseball starting pitcher Carlos Silva (Portuguese footballer) (1902–?), Portuguese footballer Carlos Silva (sport shooter) (born 1952), Guatemalan sports shooter Carlos Silva (sprinter) (born 1926), Chilean Olympic sprinter Carlos Silva Valente (born 1948), Portuguese football referee Carlos Silva (hurdler) (born 1974), Portuguese hurdler Carlos Silva (cyclist) (born 1974), Colombian cyclist Carlos Alberto Silva (1939–2017), Brazilian football manager Chale Silva (1919–2009), Costa Rican footballer Carlos Silva (Colombian footballer) (born 1973), Colombian football manager and former footballer Carlos Eduardo Silva (born 1994), Brazilian indoor volleyball player

Photo of Denis Vieru

6. Denis Vieru (b. 1996)

With an HPI of 39.90, Denis Vieru is the 6th most famous Moldovan Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Denis Vieru (born 10 March 1996) is a Moldovan judoka who competes in the men's half-lightweight (66 kg) category. He competed in the men's 66 kg event at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, without winning a medal, but he won a bronze medal in the same event at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France.

Photo of Sergiu Toma

7. Sergiu Toma (b. 1987)

With an HPI of 37.31, Sergiu Toma is the 7th most famous Moldovan Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 19 different languages.

Sergiu Toma (born 29 January 1987) is a Moldovan-born Emirati judoka. He competed for the United Arab Emirates in the 81 kg category at the 2016 Olympic Games and defeated Takanori Nagase to enter the semi-finals. He lost his semi-final match to Khasan Khalmurzaev, but then beat Matteo Marconcini in the bronze medal match. At the 2008 and 2012 Olympics he competed for Moldova but was eliminated in the early rounds. Toma has a law degree from the Moldova State University. In 2008, he considered retiring from sport due to financial problems. He stayed, and in 2011 was named Moldovan Athlete of the Year. After the 2012 Olympics he moved to the United Arab Emirates, together with five other Moldovan judoka and the national coach Vasile Colta.

Photo of Victor Ciobanu

8. Victor Ciobanu (b. 1992)

With an HPI of 37.03, Victor Ciobanu is the 8th most famous Moldovan Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 14 different languages.

Victor Ciobanu (born 7 October 1992) is a Moldovan Greco-Roman wrestler. He won the gold medal in the 60 kg event at the 2021 World Wrestling Championships held in Oslo, Norway. He is the first wrestler representing Moldova to win a gold medal in Greco-Roman wrestling at the World Wrestling Championships. In 2018, Ciobanu won the silver medal in the same event at the World Wrestling Championships held in Budapest, Hungary. He also won the gold medal in his event at the 2019 European Wrestling Championships in Bucharest, Romania. In 2021, Ciobanu represented Moldova at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.

Photo of Sofia Polcanova

9. Sofia Polcanova (b. 1994)

With an HPI of 35.51, Sofia Polcanova is the 9th most famous Moldovan Athlete.  Her biography has been translated into 9 different languages.

Sofia Polcanova (born 3 September 1994 in Chișinău) is a Moldovan-Austrian table tennis player. She competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in the women's singles event, in which she was eliminated in the second round by Jian Fang Lay, and as part of the Austrian team in the women's team event. In 2021, she competed in the 2020 Olympics.

Photo of Alexandra Camenșcic

10. Alexandra Camenșcic (b. 1988)

With an HPI of 34.36, Alexandra Camenșcic is the 10th most famous Moldovan Athlete.  Her biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Alexandra Camenscic (born 28 August 1988) is a Moldovan cross-country skier who has competed since 2009. She finished 71st in the 10 km event at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Brice finished 84th in the individual sprint event at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2009 in Liberec. Her best career finish was tenth in a 7.5 km mass start event at Slovakia in 2009. Now she teaches the sport of Biathlon in the Moldovan town of Criuleni.

People

Pantheon has 28 people classified as Moldovan athletes born between 1932 and 2005. Of these 28, 27 (96.43%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Moldovan athletes include Douglas, Tudor Casapu, and Natalia Valeeva. The most famous deceased Moldovan athletes include Lia Manoliu. As of April 2024, 22 new Moldovan athletes have been added to Pantheon including Douglas, Carlos Silva, and Denis Vieru.

Living Moldovan Athletes

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Deceased Moldovan Athletes

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Newly Added Moldovan Athletes (2024)

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