Olaru graduated to the Deva national training facility in 1996, after winning gold on vault at the Junior European Championships.

[4] In 1998 Olaru moved up to senior competition, taking first place with the Romanian team and second on vault at the European Championships.

[5] The following year, she contributed to the team gold medal at the 1999 World Championships in Tianjin, China and became the second Romanian gymnast in history, after Aurelia Dobre, to win the all-around title.

Olaru retired after the 2000 Olympics, noting that the new Code of Points would not be suited to gymnasts of her height, and enrolled as a student at the West University of Timișoara.

After graduation she continued her studies, and she became an assistant professor at the Faculty of Sports and Physical Education of the West University of Timișoara.