How the controversial Nicu Vlad, former Olympic champion, ended up looking two years after he disappeared in Australia

A surprising appearance at the awarding of Romanian athletes by the Țiriac Foundation, on Friday morning, was represented by the former athlete Nicu Vlad (61 years old).

Disappeared from the spotlight for two years after being suspended indefinitely from all sports structures by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the former weightlifter appeared at the event alongside Elisabeta Lipă.

What Nicu Vlad looks like today. He was suspended by TAS from all sports structures

The Olympic weightlifting champion is related to Elisabeta Lipă, whose son he baptized. The two families, Lipă and Vlad, live next to each other, fence by fence, right in Pipera.

Nicu Vlad also has Australian citizenship and lately he has not been seen around Romania, spending his time in Antipozi. He has owned a villa in Melbourne for more than 15 years.

The former great sportsman met Ion Țiriac on arrival on Friday, then sat down, retired, on a chair and watched the ceremony where the Romanian athletes each received a Hyundai from the Ion Țiriac Foundation.

The Romanian athletes who won medals at the Olympic Games in Paris received, on Friday, personalized cars from the businessman Ion Ţiriacduring an event organized at the Ţiriac Collection in Otopeni.

Among the Olympic medalists who received cars from the businessman was the gymnast Sabrina Maneca-Voinea, ranked 4th in the floor final at the Olympic Games in Paris.

What happened to Nicu Vlad in 2021 and 2022?

Former Olympic champion Nicu Vlad and Hungarian Tamas Ajan, both former leaders of the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF), were suspended for life, in June 2022, by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, due to their involvement in cases of doping.

The CAS anti-doping chamber suspended them for their involvement “in the manipulation of the anti-doping control process and their complicity in the violation of international anti-doping regulations in the case of several weightlifters, over a period of several years, starting in 2012”, the Court of Appeal stated at the time in Lausanne.

The International Weightlifting Federation had imposed a one-year suspension on the Romanian Weightlifting Federation since June 17, 2021, “due to several cases of violations of the anti-doping regulations”, a sanction that deprived the participation of Romanian weightlifters in the Olympic Games in Tokyo.

Nicu Vlad’s bronze in Atlanta was the last medal won by Romania in weightlifting. Only now Mihaela Cambei won the silver medal in the weightlifting competition at the Olympic Games, in the 49 kilogram category. It was the eighth medal won by Team Romania in Paris, the last one coming in Bucharest for Ana Bărbosu in gymnastics following the scandal in the floor test.

Romania won the only two gold medals at the Los Angeles Games in 1984, through Petre Becheru (82.5 kg) and Nicu Vlad (90 kg).