At the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, she won a gold medal in the 800 metres ahead of Kim Gallagher of the USA and countrywoman Fiţa Lovin, and a silver medal in the 1500 metres behind Gabriella Dorio of Italy and ahead of another Romanian, Maricica Puică. She won a 1500 m bronze medal at the 1986 European Championships, behind the Soviet pair of Ravilya Agletdinova and Tatyana Samolenko. In March 1987, she won the 1500 m at the World Indoor Championships in Indianapolis, ahead of Samolenko. In September of that year, she won a bronze medal at the World Championships in Rome. She originally finished fourth but was promoted one position after the disqualification of original bronze medal winner Sandra Gasser.