Radio România Internațional

Tag: OLympics

  • Romania at the Olympic Games

    Romania at the Olympic Games

     

    With 3 months left until the start of the Paris Olympics, we invite you to a new segment devoted to Romanian sports legends. Today’s guest is Constantina Diţă, the first and only Romanian to win the gold in the Olympic marathon, at the 2008 Beijing Games.

     

    The marathon is one of the oldest events in the modern Olympic Games. Inspired by the legend of Pheidippides, the soldier who ran to Athens from the town of Marathon, Greece to carry the message of a Greek victory in the year 490 B.C., the race has been part of the Games ever since Athens 1896. After running approximately 40 km, the Greek Spiros Louis won the first marathon race, to become a national hero. In 1984, at the Los Angeles Games, the women’s event was also introduced, won at the time by the American Joan Benoit.

     

    In 2008, in Beijing, the event was won by the Romanian athlete Constantina Diţă. Her victory was perhaps the biggest Romanian surprise at the Beijing Olympics. Few had expected her to finish among the first, and Romanians had rather pinned their hopes on Lidia Şimon, the silver medallist in Sydney. Right after that race, Constantina Diţă gave RRI an exclusive interview:

     

    Constantina Diţă: “I am very happy to win the gold, because I have never won an Olympic medal, and this has always been my dream. I didn’t expect to win. I was expecting a medal, but the gold? Never. The world elite has been here, really strong girls, Paula Radcliffe, Ndereba, the Chinese girl, I had never expected to win the gold against them.”

     

    Constantina Diţă was born on January 23, 1970, in the village of Turburea, Gorj County. Before taking up athletics, she used to play handball. In 2005, in Edmonton, Canada, she won the world half marathon champion title, while at the marathon championships that same year, held in Helsinki, Finland, she came out 3rd.

     

    We met Constantina Diţă again last year, a decade and a half after her great Olympic feat:

     

    Constantina Diţă: “Wow, I can’t believe it’s been 15 years since the Olympic gold in Beijing. Thank God I am still healthy and active in many, many sports-related projects. I attend lots of sports events, I talk to kids about sports, I am an ambassador for various events, including the world half marathon championships in Riga, Latvia, these days, and right after that, the Chicago marathon. I try to find the time to work out at least once or twice a week. In Chicago I’m going to run 5 km for people with disabilities, as an ambassador. I urge all parents to guide their children towards sports, because sport means health, intelligence, energy.”

     

    In 2022, the local authorities in Târgu Jiu named the town’s new stadium after Constantina Diţă, “the best atlete born in Gorj County in the past 100 years,” as the mayor Marcel Romanescu said. (AMP)

  • Predictions for the Paris Olympics

    Predictions for the Paris Olympics

    We have 3 months left until the world’s top sports event, the summer Olympics, scheduled to take place in Paris between July 26 and August 11.

     

    Although overshadowed by a war that has reached its 3rd year in Ukraine and by a volatile situation in the Middle East, the Olympics stir well-deserved interest, including in terms of statistics.

     

    Experts have set out to produce a predicted medal table for the Paris Olympics, with the number of medals each country is expected to win. According to this ranking, released recently by Nielsen Gracenote, Romania is forecast to win 10 medals, of which two gold, three silver and five bronze ones. The country would thus come out 25th in the ranking by total number of medals.

     

    Should this projection come true, this would make Romania’s best performance in the past 5 editions of the summer Olympics, after the 9 medals won in Beijing 2008, 7 in London 2012 and 4 each in Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.

     

    At the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Romania won a total of 19 medals. But all these pale in comparison to Romania’s exceptional performance at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. With 53 medals (20 gold, 16 silver, and 17 bronze) Romania ranked second in the nations’ table, after the US.

     

    According to the Gracenote predictions, the US team will dominate the Paris Game as well, with a forecast 123 medals, followed by China, with 89 medals and the UK with 66. The host country, France, is expected to win 55 medals. In a standing taking into account gold medals only, France ranks 3rd, after the US and China. While Russia and Belarus will not take part in the competitions, for obvious reasons, Ukraine is predicted to take home 13 medals.

     

    The predicted medal table is a projection based on team and individual results in the previous Olympic Games, the World Championships and the World Cups, to establish the most likely medal winners from each country.

     

    Romania so far has 80 athletes qualified for the Paris Games, in events including athletics, swimming, boxing, rowing, kayaking, artistic and rhythmic gymnastics, water polo, table tennis, wrestling and weightlifting.

     

    Octavian Morariu, a member of the International Olympic Committee and of the Romanian Executive Olympic and Sports Committee, says the 10-medal forecast for Romania may be realistic, but should not be taken for granted. “There are events where we have really good chances to win medals, for instance rowing, swimming, weightlifting, wrestling, canoeing. So this is what we should pin our hopes on, at the Paris Olympics,” Morariu said. He argued that these are the events in which Romanians have had good results lately and which are an indication of what could be achieved this summer. (AMP)

  • Romania at the Olympic Games

    Romania at the Olympic Games

    The history of Romanian gymnastics is dominated by the personality and achievements of Nadia Comăneci. However, since that moment on, a lot of tremendously talented athletes followed in Nadia’s footsteps, some of them with remarkable results. This is the case with Daniela Silivaș, an Olympic champion in 3 events in Seoul, 1988.

     

    She was born in 1970, in Deva, and was one of the first gymnasts trained at the Deva Olympic Centre opened in 1978. Her first coach was professor Ioan Cărpinișan. In 1980, Daniela Silivaș was already the winner of the national school championships. In 1982 she won the gold in the all-around, beam, floor and vault events of the national junior championship. There followed a triumphant international debut, with Daniela Silivas winning the all-around and floor events of the Junior World Gymnastics Championships in Japan.  In ’84, at the Junior European Championship in Rimini, Italy, she walked home with the gold medal in the beam event and the silver in the uneven bars and floor.

     

    Daniela Silivas moved on to become the world leading gymnast of the late ‘80s. In the World Championships in Montreal in ’85, she won the gold in the beam event, while 2 years later, at the European Championships in Moscow, she won the gold in the all-around event, beam, floor and uneven bars, and the silver in the vault event. That same year, at the World Championship in Rotterdam, she took home the gold in the uneven bars and the floor event, and won the world title with Romania’s team.

     

    1988 saw the only Olympic Games participation in her career, in Seoul. She won 3 gold medals on that occasion, in the uneven bars, beam and floor, and 2 silver medals, in the all-around and in the team competitions.

     

    The last major competition she took part in was the 1989 World Championship, held in Stuttgart. Once again, she won the uneven bars, beam and floor events, and added another silver medal in the team competition. After her retirement from competitions, Daniela Silivaș settled in the US, where she is a gymnastics coach.

  • Athlete of the week

    Athlete of the week


    Swimmers of 25 countries
    late last week proved their mettle in a top-notch international competition
    held in Luxembourg. Taking the start in Euro Meet were more than 600 swimmers eager to prove themselves but also to meet the qualification standards set for
    the Olympic Games in Paris. The world’s best swimmer today, David Popovici, was
    among the participants. He won gold in the 100m and 200m freestyle events.


    Reason
    enough for Radio Romania International to designate David Popovici the Athlete of
    the week.


    In the 100m
    freestyle event, Popovici La 100 de metri liber, as part of Euro Meet in Luxembourg
    Popovici set a new competitional record, clocking 48 seconds and one hundredth
    of a second. With 46 seconds and 86 hundredths of a seconds, Popovici is the
    event’s record holder, so in Luxembourg, David Popovici was not at the peak of his career.

    His timing in the 200m freestyle event was not
    extraordinary either. In Luxembourg, Popovici clocked 46 seconds and 86 hundredths
    of a second. We recall that at the 2023 edition of the World Championships in Japan’s
    Fukukoa, where Popovici came in 4th, he clocked 44 seconds and 86
    hundredths of a second. There is still a lot more work to be done ahead of the
    Olympics…David Popovici announced he would not take part in the World
    Championships, scheduled in February in Qatar, which proves he will totally
    focus on his training for the Olympic Games in Paris.


    David
    Popovici was born in Bucharest, on September 15, 2004. David compelled
    recognition in 2021, in the juniors’ competitions. We recall that back then at
    the European Championships in Rome, Popovici won the 200m, 100m and 50m free-style
    events, setting a new world record for the latter event as well as a new world
    juniors’ record event. Subsequently, David broke the world juniors’ records in
    the 100m and 200m freestyle event. He succeeded the qualification to the Tokyo
    Olympics, where he came in fourth in the 200m free-style event, being two hundredths
    of a second away from stepping onto a step of the podium. In the seniors’
    category, Popovici first won his major title in November 2021. We recall that
    back then, in Russia’s Kazan. Popovici became a European champion in the 200m
    freestyle event.


    David’s
    career-best so far occurred in 2022. At the World Seniors’ Championships held
    in June 2023in Budapest, Popovici won the 100m and 200m freestyle events, an
    absolute first for Romanian sports. Then in August 2023, at the European Championships
    in Rome, in 2023, David Popovici clocked 46 seconds and 86 hundredths of a
    second, setting a new world record. He was that close to setting another world
    record when he won the 200m freestyle event.


    In
    2023, David maintained his position according to the world rankings, yet he was
    unable to step onto a step of the podium in the major competitions held in an Olympic
    swimming pool.

  • The Year 2023 in sports (II)

    The Year 2023 in sports (II)


    Romanian
    athletes in 2023 have been shifting their focus to securing their qualification
    to the Paris Olympics.


    We recall that in June 2023, at the European Games in
    Krakow, Romania won 17 medals, of which 6 were gold, 6 silver and 5 bronze.


    In July 2023, Monica Niculescu
    and Japan’s Eri Hozumi advanced to the women’s’ doubles final as part of the
    WTA tennis tournament in Bad Homburg, where they sustained a nil-6, 6-7 defeat by Lidia Morozova of the Belarus and Ingrid
    Gamarra Martins of Brazil.


    For the second consecutive year, Transylvanian
    team Sepsi Sfântu Gheorghe won Romania’s Supercup in football. In the final hosted
    by a stadium in Ploiesti, Sepsi defeated holders Farul Constanța 1-nil.


    Romanian climber Horia Colibășanu succeeded
    yet another great performance. Horia reached the top of Broad Peak of the Karakorum
    massif, on the Pakistani-Chinese border, at a height of 8, 051 meters. It was
    the 10th over-8,000 meters peak Horia Colibasanu has climbed in his
    career.


    Also in July, Ana Bogdan won the WTA 125 tennis
    tournament in Iasi, an event with 100, 000 Euro in prize money all told. In the
    final, Bogdan defeated a fellow Romanian, Irina Begu, 6-2, 6-3, winning the
    tournament in Iasi for the second year running. Wrapping up the month of July
    were the World Swimming Championships in Japan’s Fukukoa. In high-diving, Constantin
    Popovici won gold, while Cătălin Preda, silver.


    In August 2023, tennis
    player Monica Niculescu proved she deserved to be among the world’s top women’s
    doubles tennis players. Pairing up with Alexa Guarachi
    of Chile, Monica reached as far as the final of the WTA 500 tournament in Washington,
    an event with 780,000 USD up for grabs. In the final, Monica and Alexa were
    defeated by the German-Russian pair made of Laura Siegemund and Vera Zvonareva,
    6-4, 6-4.


    As part of the World Athletics Championships
    in Budapest, Alina Rotaru-Kottmann won the bronze medal in the long-jump event,
    with a jump of 6 meters and 88 de centimeters. The performance was the career-best
    of Alina, who is signed up by Steaua Bucharest sports club. At the Canoe Sprint World
    Championships in Duisburg, also in August, Catalin Chirila won gold in the men’s
    C1 500m race, then Catalin went on to win silver the 1,000m race, an Olympic event.
    Catalin Chirila also secured his qualification
    to the 2024 edition of the Olympic Games in Paris.




    In men’s double canoe,
    Oleg Nuță and Ilie Sprincean won bronze in the 1, 000m race. The two came in
    6th in the 500m race, an Olympic event, booking their tickets for Paris 2024.




    In September, Sorana Cîrstea advanced to
    the quarterfinals of the US Open. However, Sorana was unable to reach the
    semifinals since she sustained a defeat by Czech challenger Karolína Muchová, 6-nil,
    6-3. Ana Bogdan won the WTA 125 tournament in
    Parma, an event with 100,000 Euro in prize money. 2nd-seeded Bogdan
    defeated top-seeded challenger, Slovakia’s Anna
    Karolina Schmiedlova, 7-5, 6-1.




    At the World Canoe Championship in
    Belgrade, Romania came in 4th in the nations’ competition, after The
    Netherlands, Great Britain and Italy. Ancuta Bodnar and Simona Radiș won gold
    in the women’s pair. Also gold won the coxed eight crew. A silver medal went to
    the women’s coxless four. A bronze medal went to the women’s double oars crew.
    Also bronze went to the women’s lightweight double sculls crew.




    In the European Table Tennis Championship
    in Malmoe, Sweden, Romania’s women’s team walked away with silver. In the final
    Germany outclassed Romania, 3-nil.


    Attention-grabbing
    this past fall was the World Rugby Cup in France. Romania lost all four games
    it played. In the debut fixture, Romanian was trounced by Ireland, 82 – 8. South Africa also defeated Romania 76-nil. Romania also
    lost to Scotland, nil-84. The only game where the Romanian national team
    mattered was the match against Tonga, where Romania lost, 24- 45.


    In October 2023, Romania’s women’s gymnastics team reclaimed its place among
    the Olympic-level teams. At the World Championships in Antwerp, Belgium, the
    team secured their qualification to the Paris Olympics. In the individual
    event, best-placed was Sabrina Maneca – Voinea, who
    came in 4th in the floor finals.


    The year’s most important tennis tournament
    held in Romania, the women’s WTA 250 Transylvania Open, an event with 260,000
    USD in prize money was held in Cluj-Napoca.


    Of the Romanians,
    best-placed was Elena Gabriela Ruse who advanced to the final, where she
    sustained a 6-3, 6-4 defeat by Tamara Korpatsch of Germany.


    In November 2023,
    Romania’s women’s tennis team grabbed a 4-nil away win against Serbia. The
    confrontation counted towards Billie Jean King Cup’s playoffs.


    In football, the
    most notable feat was the national team’s qualification to EURO 2024. The national squad succeeded a no-defeat record in Group I.
    In the last fixture, Romanian grabbed a 1-nil win against Switzerland, a team
    that also secured its qualification on the runner-up position. Romania’s national
    team plays in the European Championship’s final tournament for the sixth time.
    We recall Romania had also participated in the competition in 1984, 1996, 2000,
    2008 and 2016.


    Over November 9
    and December 14, the IHF World Women’s Handball Championship was jointly hosted by Denmark,
    Norway and Sweden. In Denmark’s
    Herning, France defeated Norway in the final, 31 to 28. Romania’s national
    squad came in12th, thus failing to secure its participation to the 2024 edition
    of the Olympic Games.

    In chess, Grand master Bogdan Deac walked away with
    bronze at the European Blitz Chess Championship in Zagreb. Deac got 9 points in 11 matches, being outclassed by Russian Grand master, 23-year-old
    Alexey Sarana, who competes for Serbia and who won the European title with 9.5
    points, Silver went to Armenian Grand Master Haik Martirosyan, also with 9 points.

  • RRI Sports Club

    RRI Sports Club

    For Romania’s
    women’s handball team, the World Championship held these days in Denmark,
    Sweden and Norway came to an end. The Romanians finished on 12th place,
    after concluding the main group III stage on the 3rd place. Coach Florentin
    Pera’s students lost to Denmark and Germany, which finished on the top 2
    positions and moved on to the quarter-finals. Romania won all the other group
    matches, against Chile, Serbia, Japan and Poland, but this was not enough.




    Romania
    could have finished on a higher place in the final ranking, had they not lost
    their 3rd match in the world competition with a 16-goal defeat to Denmark.
    Because of its poor goal average, Romania was taken over in the final ranking
    by Brazil, Hungary and Slovenia, which came out 9th, 10th
    and 11th, respectively.




    Under these
    circumstances, the Romanian players’ chances to qualify for the pre-Olympic
    tournaments are now null. Basically, the World Championship in Scandinavia sends
    its winners straight to the 2024 Olympics, with the next 6 places in the
    standings securing a ticket to the pre-Olympic qualifiers due in April.




    Of the
    quarter-finalists, France, which hosts next year’s Games, and defending
    champions Norway, are already qualified for the Paris Olympics. Taking part in
    the pre-Olympic tournaments are also the Czech Republic, Montenegro, Sweden,
    Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands. And since one of these teams is set to
    win the World Championship, this will free an extra spot for the pre-Olympics
    qualifiers. This spot should have been taken by Brazil, which finished 9th,
    but because this team is already qualified thanks to their win of the
    Pan-American Games, its place was taken by Hungary.




    As for
    Romania’s performance at the World Championship, the progress made by the team
    since coach Florentin Pera joined the staff is quite notable. Although star
    player Cristina Neagu missed most of the matches because of an injury, the
    Romanian team played well and was on a par with the other participants, except
    for Denmark. Excellent performances came from Eliza Buceschi, who was the best
    player of the team in all the 4 matches won by Romania. Goalkeepers Daciana
    Hosu and Diana Ciucă also put up good performances, making up for the absence
    of Iulia Dumanska. (AMP)

  • Radio Romania International Sports club

    Radio Romania International Sports club

    Denmark,
    Norway and Sweden starting Wednesday will jointly play host to the World’s
    Women Handball Championship. The final is scheduled on November 17. The fixture
    will be hosted by the Jyske Bank Arena in Denmark’s Herning. It is also there
    that the Group E games will be played, Romania’ s games included. Florentin Pera’s
    trainees on December 1st take on the team of Chile. On December 3rd,
    Romania faces Serbia. The most challenging game, scheduled on Tuesday, is the
    match against one of the teams that are favorite to winning a medal, Denmark.
    The first three teams in Group E play straight in the 3rd Main
    Group, alongside the first three teams in Group F. Romania’s likely opponents
    in the 3rd main group are Germany, Poland, Japan or Iran. The game
    will also be played in Herning. The first two teams in descending order in the
    main four groups will then prove their mettle in the quarterfinals, The
    semifinals and the finals follow.


    The
    Romanian national team’s set target for the World Championship is earning a place
    among the world’s top seven teams, which paves the way for the 2024 edition of
    the Olympic games. The world champion will book its ticket to Paris jointly
    with the continental champions. The 2nd, 3rd, 4th,
    5th, 6th and 7th-placed teams at the World
    Championship will secure their participation to the pre-Olympic tournament in
    April, which will complete the list of teams that will participate in the 2024
    edition of the Olympics.


    The
    Romanian national squad is the only team that has so far taken part in all 25
    editions of the World Women’s Handball Championship since the inaugural edition
    held in the former Yugoslavia in 1957. In 1962, Romania itself played host to the
    world championship. We recall that back then Romania won the world title. In
    1973, Romania played the final which they lost to then the World Championship
    host country, former Yugoslavia. Romania also reached as far as the final in 2005, when
    they were defeated by the national team of host country Russia.


    Ahead
    of their participation in the World Championship, Romania last week won the
    Carpati Trophy, a competition held in Bistrita, in the north. Romania won the
    games against Switzerland, 33-28, Portugal, 33-22 and Austria, 41-35.



  • Radio Romania International Sports club

    Radio Romania International Sports club


    The Slovenian city of Maribor for a week running
    was the capital of athletes from all over Europe. The European Youth Olympic
    Festival brought together Europe’s hopefuls in a great number of sports disciplines,
    ranging from athletics to swimming, from handball to judo. To Slovenia, Romania
    sent a 92-strong delegation of athletes who competed in 9 sports disciplines.
    The Romanian delegation’s final record was made of 20 medals, so Romania came
    in 4th according to the nations’ competition. Of the gold medals,
    five were won by swimmers. Robert Badea won the 200m and 400m mixed events, Aissia
    Prisăcariu won the 200m backstroke event, while Daria Silişteanu won gold in
    the 100m backstroke. Added to that
    was the women’s relay team that won the 4 by 100m freestyle, In judo, Tudor Mosoiu won in the 60-kilogram
    category, while David Gliga walked home with gold in the 73-kilogram category. In
    athletics, gold went to women’s mixed relay team (100+200+300+400 meters) and
    to Alin Şavlovschi, in the 2, 000m steeplechase.


    14-year-old swimmer Daria Silişteanu is a national record holder in the 50m backstroke event. In
    Maribor, Daria won the gold medal twice. Here is what Daria told upon her
    return to Romania, sounding upbeat about the Romanian delegation’s results in Maribor.

    Us, swimmers, walked away with quite a few medals. In
    athletics but also in handball quite a few medals were won as well. I am happy
    with the result, especially in the 100m backstroke. I really wasn’t expecting
    that, I listened to my coach, he said I can have a more powerful start, I took
    my chance, he said I can finish the race quite fine and I swam as powerfully as
    I could.


    Six silver medals were also won in Maribor. In tennis, Giulia Popa won,
    in the women’s singles, also securing a win in the women’s doubles, alongside Alexia
    Tatu. In men’s doubles, Yannick Alexandrescu and Alejandro Nourescu walked away
    with silver. In the 400m hurdles, Ştefania Uţă won silver as well. In gymnastics, silver went to Alexia
    Vănoagă in the beam event. Also silver went to women’s national handball team. The
    bronze medals went to swimmers Darius Coman, in the 100m 200m breaststroke and to
    Andrei Proca in the 1, 500m freestyle event. Athletes Alexandra Hudea in the 3,000m race and Cristian Popescu, in the
    long-jump event, also walked away with bronze.

  • Radio Romania International Sports club

    Radio Romania International Sports club

    One of Romania’s greatest athletes has recently celebrated his 89th birthday anniversary. A time-honored veteran of our Olympic champions, born on July 22nd, 1934, Leon Rotman was the first Romanian to have won two gold medals at the same edition of the Olympic Games, in Melbourne, in 1956.



    Leon Rotman was born in the old Bucharest neighborhood of Dudesti, into the family of a Jewish store-keeper. When he was 15 and still an apprentice with the Timpuri Noi plants, Leon Rotman took up training on the premises of Flacara club’s wrestling hall, being one of the 67-kilgram hopefuls. In 1952, when on the shores of the Floreasca lake, he discovered the nautical sports. Soon afterwards he was granted membership of Dinamo Bucharest Sports club’s kayak-canoe section. Rotman was quick to persuade his coaches that his place was definitely in the men’s canoe single boat. It didn’t take Rotman too long to succeed a string of wins at national level, so much so that he gained membership of the delegation representing Romania at the Olympic Games in Melbourne in 1956. Back then, three of the four gold medals won in the men’s canoe events went to the Romanian rowers, who had no problem outclassing their challengers from Russia and Hungary, then the dominating powers in the nautical sports.



    Rotman’s s first noteworthy victory occurred in the 10,000m race. The Romanian had problems registering for the event since his boat was slightly bent, an official irregularity according to the competition’s organizers. Rotman was given another boat, but that also had a problem: it was longer than officially stipulated. The canoe was shortened with a saw, then during the race Rotman displayed his force and talent, defeating the favorites of the 10,000m race, the Hungarians János Parti and István Hernek as well as the then Soviet Genady Bukharin. Rotman won the race being 80 meters ahead of the runner-up rower, Janos Parti.



    The 1,000m race followed. This time around as well, Rotman was the favorite. He confirmed, and yet again won the race; with Hungary’s Hernek being Rotman’s runner-up rower. Just like in the 10,000m race, the bronze medal went to Bukharin. The third gold medal won by the Romanian rowers in Melbourne went to Alexe Dumitru and Simion Ismailciuc, in the 1,000m men’s canoe double race.



    In 1960 at the Olympics Games in Rome, the Romanian rowers won only one medal, again through Leon Rotman, who walked home with bronze in the 1, 000m men’s canoe single race.


  • Athlete of the Week

    Athlete of the Week

    Romanian judoka Asley
    Gonzalez walked away with gold from the European Open in Rome. In the eight
    finals of the 100 kilogram category, the Romanian outperformed Adir Karimli of
    Azerbaijan and Italian Enrico Bergamelli in the quarters. In the semifinals,
    the Romanian defeated Falk Petersilka of Germany and in the finals Harry
    Lovell-Hewitt of Britain.






    In the same category,
    another judoka from Romania, Eduard Serban conceded defeat in the first round
    to Italian Daniele Accogli.


    That was the first
    gold medal won by the Romanian delegation, which ranked 10th in the
    nations’ ranking. The competition in Rome brought together 381 judokas from 34
    countries, 220 in the men’s contest and 161 in the women’s events. Romania was
    represented by five athletes.






    For his performance,
    Radio Romania International has designated Asley Gonzales athlete of the week.


    Gonzales was born in
    Caibarien city, Cuba on September 5th 1989. He became champion in the
    Pan American Games twice, in 2011 and 2013 in the 90 kilogram category, a
    category he competed in until 2021.






    In
    2013, at the World Championships in Rio, Gonzales became gold medalist after
    defeating Varlam Liparteliani of Georgia in the finals.


    At the Olympics in Beijing in 2008, Gonzales
    lost in the first round and made it to the finals of the next Olympics in
    London. Unfortunately he conceded defeat in the finals to Song Dae-Nam of
    South-Korea.






    Four years later, at the Olympics in
    Rio, Gonzales lost in the third round to Lkhagvasürengiin Otgonbaatar of
    Mongolia. Gonzalez lives in Oradea, western Romania and became a Romanian
    citizen in 2021. He is competing for Romania and has been nicknamed by the
    fans, Asley, the Romanian.




    (bill)

  • Athlete of the Week

    Athlete of the Week

    Romanian judoka Asley
    Gonzalez walked away with gold from the European Open in Rome. In the eight
    finals of the 100 kilogram category, the Romanian outperformed Adir Karimli of
    Azerbaijan and Italian Enrico Bergamelli in the quarters. In the semifinals,
    the Romanian defeated Falk Petersilka of Germany and in the finals Harry
    Lovell-Hewitt of Britain.






    In the same category,
    another judoka from Romania, Eduard Serban conceded defeat in the first round
    to Italian Daniele Accogli.


    That was the first
    gold medal won by the Romanian delegation, which ranked 10th in the
    nations’ ranking. The competition in Rome brought together 381 judokas from 34
    countries, 220 in the men’s contest and 161 in the women’s events. Romania was
    represented by five athletes.






    For his performance,
    Radio Romania International has designated Asley Gonzales athlete of the week.


    Gonzales was born in
    Caibarien city, Cuba on September 5th 1989. He became champion in the
    Pan American Games twice, in 2011 and 2013 in the 90 kilogram category, a
    category he competed in until 2021.






    In
    2013, at the World Championships in Rio, Gonzales became gold medalist after
    defeating Varlam Liparteliani of Georgia in the finals.


    At the Olympics in Beijing in 2008, Gonzales
    lost in the first round and made it to the finals of the next Olympics in
    London. Unfortunately he conceded defeat in the finals to Song Dae-Nam of
    South-Korea.






    Four years later, at the Olympics in
    Rio, Gonzales lost in the third round to Lkhagvasürengiin Otgonbaatar of
    Mongolia. Gonzalez lives in Oradea, western Romania and became a Romanian
    citizen in 2021. He is competing for Romania and has been nicknamed by the
    fans, Asley, the Romanian.




    (bill)

  • July 28, 2022 UPDATE

    July 28, 2022 UPDATE

    UKRAINE The Romanian foreign ministry firmly criticised the move of
    the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, who posted
    on social media a map assigning current Ukrainian territories to Romania and
    other neighbouring countries. The foreign ministry regards such attitudes as
    part of the Russian Federation’s propaganda and disinformation campaign, which
    has intensified since the start of the illegal and illegitimate war against
    Ukraine. Such ‘proposals’ and ‘analyses’ concerning the random resetting of
    national borders and promoting violations of international laws are just failed
    attempts to justify Russia’s breaches of the international order based on
    rules. The institution reiterates Romania’s full support for the independence,
    sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally
    recognised borders, and once again condemns Russia’s unjustified and unprovoked
    military aggression against that country. Romania is and will remain a partner
    of Ukraine and reconfirms its full support and deep compassion for the
    Ukrainian people, the victim of a brutal aggression, the institution’s news release
    also reads.


    FUNDS The prime minister Nicolae Ciucă has said Romania’s absorption
    rate of European funds as part of the 2014-2020 financial exercise stands at
    64.5%, a level similar to that of Germany and only slightly lower than France,
    but ahead of older member states like Belgium (59%) and Italy, Spain and The
    Netherlands (each with a little over 56%). According to Ciucă, Romania absorbed
    22 billion Euros out of the 35 billion it is allocated in the 2014-2020 period.


    DROUGHT Drought has so far affected 150,000 hectares of farmland in
    20 different counties across Romania, said the agriculture ministry, based on
    daily reports on the state of the crops. The irrigation systems are struggling
    to cope, owing to the drop in the level of the water used to feed the
    irrigation stations. The biggest such station, in Brăila county, in the
    south-east, was shut down because of the low Danube water flow. The station was
    providing water for 250,000 hectares of land in the region. The water flow of
    the river Prut, in the east, is also dropping, having already reached a record
    low level. Agriculture minister Petre Daea said the animal breeding sector is
    also affected by drought.


    WHISTLE-BLOWERS The president of Romania Klaus Iohannis Thursday sent
    back to Parliament for reconsideration the Law on the protection of whistle-blowers,
    stating that some of the legislative solutions must be revised. Previously, a coalition
    of 20 NGOs, civil associations and trade unions, as well as whistle-blowers,
    had sent an open letter to the president, urging him not to sign the bill into law.
    Civil society organisations argue that in the form passed in Parliament, the
    act reduces the protection mechanisms for whistle-blowers, and Romania risks
    infringement procedures for the selective transposition of the relevant EU
    Directive. Save Romania Union, in opposition, also called on Iohannis to send
    the law back for urgent reconsideration, stating that the current text
    dissuades corruption reporting and poses a major risk of Romania being left
    without the funding under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. In
    mid-July the Constitutional Court had dismissed USR party’s complaint
    concerning the law, as unconstitutional.


    DRILL Over 20 aircraft from 7 NATO member states Thursday took part
    in a joint drill as part of the enhanced Vigilance Activities – eVA headed by
    NATO AIRCOM based in Germany. According to the defence ministry, the goal of
    the exercise is to prove NATO’s capacity to plan, coordinate and execute a
    complex air space security mission in the event of any type of attack or threat
    on Allied territory. In response to Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, NATO significantly
    enhanced its defence and deterrence capability, including by means of
    strengthening its presence on its eastern flank. (AMP)

  • Radio Romania International Sports Club

    Radio Romania International Sports Club


    A new edition of the Winter Olympics Games has recently drawn to a close. This year, the competition was rather unusual because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the new restrictions that have been put in place for the safety of the participants. Nonetheless, the sporting show was there and so were the controversies. All things considered, it was an exceptional event that brought together the winter sports elite at world level.



    Romania was represented by a 22-strong delegation, whose members competed in seven disciplines: luge, bobsleigh, alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, ski jumping, biathlon and speed skating. The most audacious objectives have been set by the Romanian Bobsleigh and Luge Federation. Among them, the winning of a medal, a feat that would have come as a premiere since 1968. However, performance failed to meet expectations, to that effect. Romanian delegation’s best result in the Beijing Winter Olympics was the luge relay crew’s coming in 9th. The athletes were Raluca Strămăturaru, Valentin Creţu and the pair made of Marian Gîtlan and Darius Şerban. Then Andra Grecu was 12th placed in the monobob event. 13th-placed was the 4-man bobsleigh crew made of Mihai Tentea, Raul Dobre, Ciprian Daroczi and Cristian Radu. Romania’s 2-man luge crew made of Marian Gîtlan and Darius Şerban came in 14th in the event.



    As soon as the delegation returned to Romania, the President of the Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee, Mihai Covaliu, expressed his dissatisfaction with the Romanian delegation’s below-par run in the Olympics. Covaliu said that the special efforts made in certain disciplines did not translate into high-level performance. Among other things, Covaliu made mention of the fact that the bobsleigh crews had their training sessions in Germany. Mihai Covaliu went on to say that it was not okay for the Romanian athletes to train jointly with the German team, to have good training facilities, to succeed in a similar number of downhill races and then, at the Olympics, to have so poor a timing that they could not explain it themselves. The Romanian Sports Minister, Eduard Novak, added the Romanian athletes would have the chance to win Winter Olympic medals in 10 or 20 years’ time, provided investments are being made in infrastructure and coaches for the next four years.


    (EN)






  • Radio Romania International Sports Club

    Radio Romania International Sports Club


    A new edition of the Winter Olympics Games has recently drawn to a close. This year, the competition was rather unusual because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the new restrictions that have been put in place for the safety of the participants. Nonetheless, the sporting show was there and so were the controversies. All things considered, it was an exceptional event that brought together the winter sports elite at world level.



    Romania was represented by a 22-strong delegation, whose members competed in seven disciplines: luge, bobsleigh, alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, ski jumping, biathlon and speed skating. The most audacious objectives have been set by the Romanian Bobsleigh and Luge Federation. Among them, the winning of a medal, a feat that would have come as a premiere since 1968. However, performance failed to meet expectations, to that effect. Romanian delegation’s best result in the Beijing Winter Olympics was the luge relay crew’s coming in 9th. The athletes were Raluca Strămăturaru, Valentin Creţu and the pair made of Marian Gîtlan and Darius Şerban. Then Andra Grecu was 12th placed in the monobob event. 13th-placed was the 4-man bobsleigh crew made of Mihai Tentea, Raul Dobre, Ciprian Daroczi and Cristian Radu. Romania’s 2-man luge crew made of Marian Gîtlan and Darius Şerban came in 14th in the event.



    As soon as the delegation returned to Romania, the President of the Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee, Mihai Covaliu, expressed his dissatisfaction with the Romanian delegation’s below-par run in the Olympics. Covaliu said that the special efforts made in certain disciplines did not translate into high-level performance. Among other things, Covaliu made mention of the fact that the bobsleigh crews had their training sessions in Germany. Mihai Covaliu went on to say that it was not okay for the Romanian athletes to train jointly with the German team, to have good training facilities, to succeed in a similar number of downhill races and then, at the Olympics, to have so poor a timing that they could not explain it themselves. The Romanian Sports Minister, Eduard Novak, added the Romanian athletes would have the chance to win Winter Olympic medals in 10 or 20 years’ time, provided investments are being made in infrastructure and coaches for the next four years.


    (EN)






  • Romania at the Olympic Games

    Romania at the Olympic Games


    For decades,
    Romania was at the top of world gymnastics. Athletes such as the Olympic
    champions Nadia Comăneci, Ecaterina Szabo, Daniela Silivaș, Simona Amânar or
    Cătălina Ponor made for years the headlines in sports news from all over the
    world. In recent years, however, Romanian gymnastics hasn’t got any good
    results. The Romanian teams’ failing to qualify for the Olympic Games in Tokyo
    is the full expression of the catastrophic decline of Romanian gymnastics.


    The last edition of the
    Olympic Games where Romania got some notable results in gymnastics was the one
    in London, in 2012. The women’s team ranked 3rd in the rankings by country, and
    Catalina Ponor won the silver medal in the floor exercise. The best result was
    the first place won by Sandra Izbaşa in the vault event, a result that brought
    the last Olympic gold medal in the Romanian gymnastics’ record.


    Sandra Izbaşa was born on
    June 18th, 1990, in Bucharest. She started practicing gymnastics at the age of
    4. At 12 she was already part of the national junior team. Her first big
    performance as a senior was in 2006, at Romania’s International Gymnastics Competition
    where she won the all-around individual, floor and vault events. Also in 2006,
    at the European Championships in Volos, she won a gold medal on floor, a silver
    one with the team, and a bronze medal in the beam event.


    There followed many other
    medals won at European and world competitions. It all culminated in the Olympic
    Games in Beijing, in 2008, where Sandra won gold on floor. There followed two
    years poor in notable results. In 2011, however, at the European Championships
    in Berlin, Sandra Izbaşa ranked first in both floor and vault. Also, she
    returned with two gold medals from the European Championships in Brussels, in
    2012: one in the vault event and another one with the team. The success scored
    the same year, at the Olympic Games in London, was the last major result of
    Sandra Izbaşa’s sporting career.

    (M.Ignatescu)