Ileana Silai

Ileana Silai

Silai in the 1960s
Personal information
Born	(1941-10-14)14 October 1941 Kolozsvár, Hungary (now Cluj-Napoca, Romania)
Died	27 June 2025(2025-06-27) (aged 83)
Sport
Sport	Athletics
Event(s)	400 m, 800 m, 1500 m
Club	Metalul București
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)	400 m – 53.6 (1969) 800 m – 1:57.39 (1977) 1500 m – 3:58.5 (1979)
Medal record Representing Romania Olympic Games 1968 Mexico City 800 m European Athletics Indoor Championships 1971 Sofia 800 m 1972 Grenoble 800 m 1978 Milan 1500 m

Ileana Silai (née Gergely; 14 October 1941 – 27 June 2025) was a Romanian middle-distance runner. She competed in the 800 m at the 1968, 1972, and 1976 Olympics and in the 1500 m at the 1976 and 1980 Olympics. She won a silver over 800 m in 1968. At the European indoor championships, she won silver medals in the 800 metres in 1971 and 1972 and a gold in the 1500 m in 1978.

Background

Silai took up athletics in 1957, following her brother, and first trained in sprint and long jump. She then married and had a break from athletics until 1963. After retiring she moved to Munich, Germany, where her husband worked as an architect and she trained children. From 1991 onwards, she was not involved with sport.

Silai died on 27 June 2025, at the age of 83.

Doping

In 1979, Silai was banned for 18 months for taking anabolic steroids. After 8 months she was reinstated after IAAF President Adriaan Paulen of the Netherlands said that an 18-month suspension in the steroid case would have kept the women out of the Moscow Olympics, which would have constituted "an extra penalty." He said that the IAAF Council had therefore reinstated them for "humane reasons."