In 1985 she was a member of the silver winning team at the World Championships in Montreal. In 1987, together with Aurelia Dobre, Camelia Voinea, Celestina Popa, Daniela Silivaș and Ecaterina Szabo, Golea was a member of the gold medal winning team at the 1987 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Rotterdam, Netherlands. During the vault optional in the team finals both Aurelia Dobre and Golea scored perfect tens from the judges, Golea being one of three women (along with Elena Shushunova and Svetlana Baitova) to debut the double twisting yurchenko at the World Championships that year. Individually she won the silver medal on vault behind Elena Shushunova. She added two more individual medals at the 1987 European Championships in Moscow, a silver on beam and a bronze on vault. After winning silver with the team at the 1988 Summer Olympics, Golea retired.