Iolanda Balaș was a Romanian athlete, an Olympic champion and former world record holder in the high jump. She was the first Romanian woman to win an Olympic gold medal and is considered to have been one of the greatest high jumpers of the twentieth century. Iolanda Balaș (Romania) set the women's high jump world record of 1.75 m in Bucharest on July 14, 1956. It stood 5 months, until Mildred McDaniel's 1.76 m on December 1, 1956. Wiki link