[ Between 1991 and 1996 he lived in Australia and competed for it internationally.[1] In 2006 he was elected member of the International Weightlifting Federation Hall of Fame.[2]]Biography
Vlad was born in a family of three brothers and one sister in a village of Piscu in Galați County. His mother was a housewife and father worked for the national railway carrier Căile Ferate Române; he did not do any particular sport, but was a strong man weighing 100 kg at 172 cm height. After completing a school in Galați Vlad moved to Bucharest.
Between 1991 and 1996 Vlad lived in Australia and competed for it at the 1994 Commonwealth Games and two world championships during this time. In 1996 he returned to Romania, but still has strong ties to Australia visiting regularly as his two children continue to live there. Nicu is married to the former rower Cristina Vlad.
Nicu took up weightlifting in 1978 and retired after the 1996 Olympics to become a national coach. In 2001 he was elected president of the Romanian Weightlifting Federation, and in 2004 vice president of the Romanian Olympic Committee. He also served as first vice president of the International Weightlifting Federation.
Romanian deadlift
Owing to Vlad the flat-backed, semi-stiff legged barbell lift (with a form similar to a deadlift) came to be known as the Romanian deadlift. He was seen by some American lifters doing the deadlifts in the Olympic training hall prior to either winning a medal, setting a world record or both. Since he is Romanian, the exercise got dubbed the Romanian deadlift, and that is the name most people know the exercise by. As the exercise does not involve lifting the weight off the ground, it is not technically a deadlift, but rather a powerful compound accessory movement that strengthens the same muscles.[[3]]
References
{{Commons category|Nicu Vlad}}1. ^1 2 [https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/vl/nicu-vlad-1.html Nicu Vlad]. Sports-reference
2. ^{{cite web|title=Weightlifting Hall of Fame|publisher=International Weightlifting Federation|url=http://www.iwf.net/focus-on-iwf/hall-of-fame/members/}}
3. ^{{cite web |website=IronMind |url=http://www.ironmind.com/ironmind/opencms/Lifts/Romanian_deadlift.html |title=Jim Schmitz on the Lifts: Romanian DeadLift |first=Jim |last=Schmitz |quote=the “discovery” of the RDL was in my gym, The Sports Palace, in San Francisco in 1990 .. Nicu Vlad, of Romania .. proceeded to do this lift, a combination stiff-leg deadlift and regular deadlift, but actually neither. Someone watching asked what the exercise was he was doing. Nicu just shrugged his shoulders and said it was to make his back strong for the clean. Dragomir also said the same; it was just a lift that Nicu had developed for his back and clean. .. Someone taking notes asked what this lift was called. .. Nicu and Dragomir didn’t have a name, so I said, “Let’s call it the Romanian deadlift or RDL for short,” and every one agreed}}
{{Footer Olympic Champions Weightlifting Middle heavyweight}}{{DEFAULTSORT:Vlad, Nicu}} 19 : 1963 births|Living people|Olympic bronze medalists for Romania|Olympic weightlifters of Romania|Olympic medalists in weightlifting|Romanian male weightlifters|Romanian expatriates in Australia|Weightlifters at the 1984 Summer Olympics|Weightlifters at the 1988 Summer Olympics|Weightlifters at the 1992 Summer Olympics|Weightlifters at the 1994 Commonwealth Games|Weightlifters at the 1996 Summer Olympics|Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics|Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics|Medalists at the 1984 Summer Olympics|Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Australia|Olympic gold medalists for Romania|Olympic silver medalists for Romania|Commonwealth Games medallists in weightlifting