Born in
Tulcea, Romania, Elena Fidatov-Moruzov made her international debut at the
1984 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, reaching the top 40 in the women's long race. She was much improved at the 1985 World Cross Country event and her tenth-place finish helped the Romanian women, led by
Fiţa Lovin, to the team
bronze medal. Fidatov came ninth in the long race at the
1986 IAAF World Cross Country Championships. She also made her debut at the
1994 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships, where she was fifth and easily took the team title alongside medallists
Iulia Negura and
Anuța Cătună. Fidatov competed in world-level events on the road, track and grass in the 1995 season, beginning with 23rd place and a team bronze at the
1995 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, tenth in the
5000 metres final at the
1995 World Championships in Athletics, and culminating in a team gold medal for her sixth-place finish at the
1995 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships. She retained her World Cross bronze in 1996, in a Romanian team led by an emerging
Gabriela Szabo. Her second Olympic appearance, representing Romania in the 5000 m at the
1996 Atlanta Olympics in August, saw her claim a career best finish in a global track final by coming seventh overall. She had a highly successful cross country season in 1997, taking a series of high-profile circuit wins including the
Antrim International Cross Country,
Cross Zornotza,
Cross de San Sebastián,
Cross Internacional de Itálica,
Eurocross, and
Almond Blossom Cross Country. These performances helped rank her in second place on that year's
IAAF World Cross Challenge, behind winner
Gete Wami. The thirty-six-year-old also had one of her highest placings at the
1997 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, coming twelfth in the women's long race. She ended the year with a
silver medal at the
1997 European Cross Country Championships, leading Romania to second place in the team rankings. She failed a doping control test at the 1998 Cross Zornotza after
nandrolone was detected in her system, an infraction which led to a two-year ban from the sport. She managed 46th in the short race but only 68th place in the long race that year. She competed twice more at the event, taking 13th in the short race in 2001 (leading Romania to the bronze) and finishing 41st in 2002. These performances brought her total number of career appearances at the competition to thirteen. The time is the current
W40 Masters World Record in the event. ==See also==