The webpage
of the International Olympic Committee on Sunday, March 15, published an
article devoted to Georgeta Popescu, the first-ever Romanian woman to win a
winter games gold medal at the iconic Olympia bob run in St. Moritz. Winning a
Youth Olympic Games (YOG) gold medal is a special moment for any young
bobsleigh athlete, but doing so at St Moritz’s Olympia Bob Run – the world’s
oldest bobsleigh track and a host of two Winter Olympic competitions in 1928
and 1948 – takes some beating. That’s exactly what happened to Romania’s Georgeta
Popescu at Lausanne 2020, the IOC writes on its webpage.
I’m extremely happy.
However, I wasn’t interested in making history in bobsleigh or winter sports,
she says. I was just interested in Romania being known and its values being
known to the world. The only thing that really went through my mind is that
I’ve made my country very proud. I met [IOC President] Thomas Bach and he told
me that my medal is extremely precious for Romania, because we had never won a
medal in women’s bobsleigh before. Georgeta Popescu went on to say. A day after
Popescu’s win, Romania claimed a second bobsleigh gold medal courtesy of Andrei
Nica in the men’s monobob, capping off a highly successful YOG at the Olympia
Bob Run for the country. Thus both players might have a serious impact on the
Olympic competition slated for Beijing in 2022.
On Monday,
the Romanian Sports and Olympic Committee decided to designate Georgeta Popescu
as Romania’s candidate for the Piotr Nurowski award. The European Olympic
Committees set up the prize in 2011 and has been awarding it to the top
European youth athletes in memory of Piotr Nurowski, the former president of
the Polish Olympic Committee, who perished in the 2010 Smolensk air crash,
which killed 88 high-ranking officials, including the President of Poland, and
the 8 crew members. The award is an homage to Piotr Nurowski, by means of which
the EOC wants to encourage young athletes to pursue a career in top sport, as
well as inspire future generations to adopt a healthy lifestyle based on
Olympic values and principles.
(Translated
by V. Palcu)