Athletes from Romania have not
stepped onto the podiums of the world’s main athletics events for quite some
time now. So the fact that a delegation representing Romania at the European Indoor Athletics Championships obtained no medals was a surprise to no one. The best
Romanian result in Glasgow was a fifth place obtained by Alina Rotaru in the
long jump event. As Alina’s result turned out to be the most remarkable
Romanian performance of the week, our radio station has designated her Athlete
of the Week.
Alina’s best jump was 6 meters and
64 centimeters only 20 centimeters shorter than that of bronze medalist, Marina
Beh-Romanciuk of Ukraine, who jumped 6 meters and 84 centimeters. Romania’s other
representative in the finals, Florentina Marincu-Iusco came in eighth with 6
meters and 49 centimeters. The golden medal went to Ivana Spanovic of Serbia
who jumped 6 meters and 99 centimeters.
Alina Rotaru was born on June 5th
1993 in Bucharest and took up athletics at the age of 6 with Dinamo Bucharest
Sports Club. She later joined Steaua and is currently competing for CSM
Bucharest, a club sponsored by Bucharest City Hall. In 2015 Alina Rotaru
managed to qualify for the Olympics in Rio, where unfortunately she ranked only
18th. She obtained the best result in her career in an outdoor
contest held in Gammertingen, Germany, where she jumped 6 meters and 78
centimeters.