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.

[6] In June 2021 as Vice President of the IWF, Vlad was charged with complicity and tampering with multiple anti-doping rule violations by the International Testing Agency.

It was alleged that Vlad conspired with the president of the IWF, Tamás Aján, to allow Romanian weightlifter Roxana Cocoș to compete at the 2012 Olympics despite having tested positive for anabolic steroids just 3 months earlier.

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.

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.