Maria Diaconescu

Diaconescu won her first international medals in 1957, winning gold at the Balkan Games in Athens with a throw of 52.14 m and placing second behind Inese Jaunzeme at the UIE World Student Games in Moscow with 50.06 m.[2][3] Jan Popper, a Czechoslovakian sports statistician, ranked her second in the world that year, behind only Dana Zátopková and ahead of the previous year's number one, Jaunzeme.[4] In 1958 Diaconescu placed seventh at the European Championships, but was not ranked in the world's top ten.[4][5] In 1959 she placed third behind Elvīra Ozoliņa and Urszula Figwer at the first Summer Universiade in Turin.[6] She competed in the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, qualifying for the final but only placing tenth.[1]

In 1961 Diaconescu was ranked fourth in the world, her second top 10 ranking,[4] after she placed second behind Yelena Gorchakova at the second Summer Universiade with a throw of 50.64 m[6] and threw 56.64 m, her personal best, in Sofia on July 15.[7] In 1962 she placed second to Ozoliņa at both the European Championships in Belgrade and the UIE World Student Games in Helsinki[3][5] and was again world-ranked second.[4] She remained in the world's top ten in 1963 and 1964;[4] at the 1964 Summer Olympics she threw 53.71 m and placed sixth.[1]