Maniani was born as Mirela Manjani in 1976. In 1996, at the University of Alabama she set a new Albanian national record at 62.46 m (as of 2017, she still holds the national record of Albania). She represented Albania at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, USA and ranked 24th overall. During the competition she was also Albania's flag bearer. After marrying a Greek citizen, the weightlifter Georgios Tzelilis, she received Greek citizenship and represented Greece at the 1997 World Championships in Athletics in Athens. Her first major success came in 1999 in Seville, where she won the gold medal at the World Championships with a throw of 67.09 m. Her performance was considered as a world record, as a new type of javelin had been introduced in 1999. At the 2000 Summer Olympics she won the silver medal with a personal best of 67.51 m. She also won the bronze medal in 2004. Maniani is also a European champion and double world champion. Her personal best throw of 67.51 metres is the current Greek record.
Mirela Ivanova (born 11 May 1962 in Sofia) is one of the most famous modern Bulgarian poets. Mirela Ivanova writes essays, reviews on fiction and theatre performances, deals with literature history, and translates from the German language. Her poems have been translated into many different languages, including German and English.
Mirela Kumbaro Furxhi (born 4 March 1966 in Tirana, Albania), is an Albanian politician. In 2013 she was nominated Minister of Culture of Albania. In the 2017 elections she won her Mandate as Member of the Parliament for Gjirokastër County.
Mirela Ana Pașca (born 19 February 1975) is a retired Romanian artistic gymnast, who competed internationally between 1990 and 1992. She is an Olympic silver medalist and a world bronze medalist with the team. Individually, she is a world bronze medalist and a European champion on uneven bars. She was also an uneven bars finalist at the 1992 Olympic Games.