Radio România Internațional

Tag: Romanian rowing

  • Olympic medals for Romanian athletes

    Olympic medals for Romanian athletes

    Every four years, the world’s best-performing athletes compete in the Olympic Games. This year, the event brought together 10,700 competitors from 206 countries and territories. With a delegation comprising over a hundred athletes, Romania is among the best represented countries, 100 years after the first Olympic medal scooped by Romanian athletes, won in rugby in the Paris Olympics of 1924. Over the years, Romanian athletes have won a total of 313 Olympic medals, of which 92 gold, 98 silver and 123 bronze. The members of the Romanian delegation have already grabbed remarkable results in Paris, ever since the first days of the competition. With the gold medal in the 200m freestyle race and bronze in the 100m race, David Popovici is one of the most successful swimmers in this year’s edition. At only 19 years of age, a two-time world champion and five-time European champion, the athlete enrolled at Dinamo Bucharest sports club completed his record with Olympic medals.

     

     

    Our rowers also grabbed their first medals: gold in the men’s double sculls and silver in the women’s doubles sculls, the women’s pair and women’s leightweight double sculls events, marking a remarkable leap forward in a discipline where, in recent times, most results have been achieved in pair events. The progress made in gymnastics should also be commended. Although it is one of the most successful sports for Romania, with 25 gold, 20 silver and 26 bronze medals, results in gymnastics have been somewhat subpar since the London Olympics of 2012, when Sandra Izbaşa won gold in the vault final, Cătălina Ponor scooped silver in the floor event, and the women’s team won the bronze medals. Now, the girls managed to make their way back to the best-competing teams in the world, finishing 7th the team event, while some of our gymnasts also qualified to individual finals. The biggest expectations are however pinned on upcoming rowing events, with the last finals scheduled for Saturday. Also in water sports, we expect medals from the multiple world canoe champion Cătălin Chirilă, who needs to prove he comes from a long tradition of good results for Romania, spanning nearly seven decades, which began with the two gold medals won by Leon Rotman in 1956 in the Melbourne Olympics and continued with the four titles won by Ivan Patzaichin over 1968-1984. The Romanian delegation also has expectations in athletics events, but the latest results in world and European competitions force us to tone down our optimism.

     

     

    Last but not least, in weightlifting, Romania will be represented by two athletes with good chances at winning a medal: Loredana Toma will compete in the 71-kg event, while Mihaela Cambei in the 49-kg event. Loredana is ranked 4th in the world rankings in her category, while Mihaela is 5th in her category. Their current form will be a deciding factor in the current competition, in addition to the determination both competitors have displayed when it mattered the most. (VP)

  • Athlete of the Week on RRI – Rower Simona Radiş

    Athlete of the Week on RRI – Rower Simona Radiş

    In recent years, Romania has
    returned to the elite of world rowing. At the Olympic Games hosted by Tokyo
    this year, our rowers ranked 4th in the medal standings of the
    rowing competitions, being the best-performing European team in the event. The value
    of Romanian rowing was once against confirmed last week at the European Under-23
    Rowing Championships hosted by Kruszwica, Poland. Romania ranked 1st
    in the medal standings, with ten medals, 5 gold and 5 silver. The European gold
    medals went to the four plus one, the coxless four, the single-scull and the eight
    crews in the women’s competition, and to the men’s coxless four crew. In the women’s
    single-scull event, the new European champion, Simona Radiş, broke the world
    youth record, which is why we have designated her Athlete of the Week.


    Simona Radiş is the defending
    Olympic champion in the women’s double-scull event, a title won in Tokyo this
    year alongside Ancuța Bodnar. She was born on April 5, 1999 in Botoşani,
    northern Romania. She is currently enrolled at Steaua Bucharest sports club.
    She achieved the best performances of her career alongside Bodnar, with whom
    she has paired in women’s double-scull events for the last two years. Their
    first notable performance came in 2019, in early June, when they won silver at
    the European Championships hosted by Lucerne, Switzerland. Then, in September,
    at the World Championships in Linz, Austria, they also won silver. At the 2020
    European Rowing championship hosted by Poznan, Poland, the two won gold, a feat
    they repeated at the World Championships in Varese, Italy, hosted earlier this
    year. Then, at the Tokyo Olympics, they won the only gold medal won by the Romanian
    delegation, which puts them in leading position to be designated Athletes of
    the Year 2021 (VP)



  • Silver for Romanian rowing

    Silver for Romanian rowing

    Every new
    day at the Olympics seems to yield a new medal for the Romanian delegation. On
    Thursday morning, the Romanian men’s pair made up of Ciprian Tudosă and Marius
    Cozmiuc scooped silver after finishing the race in second place with a time of
    6.16 minutes. The Romanians were outranked by Martin and Valent Sinkovic of
    Croatia, who led the race from the beginning. The bronze medal went on Frederic
    Vystavel and Joachim Sutton of Denmark. After the awards ceremony, Criprian Tudosă
    told the media:


    It was a
    beautiful and hard race. It was the final. We are very happy with this result,
    and this Olympic cycle ended well for us, I might say.


    In turn,
    Marius Cozmiuc had this to say:


    We will
    see what the future has in store for us. We hope we will do better, and the
    men’s four crew as well, and the girls. We hope the whole team gets goods
    results.


    Also on
    Thursday, Ionela Cozmiuc and Gianina Beleagă ranked 6th in the A
    finals of the women’s lightweight double-scull event. Two-time world champions
    in 2017 and 2018, Ionela and Gianina were out of pace in the race, and failed
    to secure a medal. On Friday, the women’s eight crew will also compete in the A
    final after setting a new world record in the repechage, 5.52 min


    utes.
    Until then, the men’s pair performance is all the more notable, considering
    that Romania’s last medal in men’s rowing dates back to 1992, in Barcelona.
    Back then, the Romanian men’s four won gold, the men’s eight scooped silver,
    and the men’s double-scull walked home with bronze. A long period of subpar
    results followed, but recently, things have improved significantly,
    particularly after the Romanian Rowing Federation brought in a coach from
    Italy. Antonio Colamonici has been training the men’s rowing team for the last
    three years, and the women’s team in the last year. Let us further note that in
    swimming, David Popovici ranked 7th in the 100-meter freestyle
    final, finishing the race in 48.4 seconds. The gold went to Caeleb Dressel of
    the United States, who also set a new Olympic record. Popovici’s best result at
    Tokyo remains his 4th place in the 200-meter freestyle final, when
    he came very close to scooping bronze. On Friday, David Popovici will perform
    in the 50-meter freestyle qualifying round. (VP)

  • Romania at the Olympic Games – Rowing

    Romania at the Olympic Games – Rowing

    Romanian rowers
    have recently grabbed a number of very good performances. At the World Cup in
    Lucerne, Switzerland, which came to a close last week, Romanian rowing crews
    have secured qualification to the Tokyo Olympics. Romania’s rowing delegation
    now totals 36 athletes, which will compete in a total of nine events.


    Romania’s
    highest hopes for a medal are pinned on the women’s 8+1 crew. In this event,
    Romania has climbed onto the podium since 1996 onwards, with the exception of
    the 2012 London Olympics. With three Olympic gold medals, three silver and
    three bronze, the Romanian women’s 8+1 crew is the most successful in the
    history of Romanian rowing. Over the years famous athletes have contributed to Romania’s
    success, including Elisabeta Lipă, Georgeta Andrunache, Viorica Susanu, Liliana
    Gafencu or Doina Ignat.


    For years Romania
    has also been dominating the women’s double-scull event. The list of Olympic
    winners began in 1984 in Los Angeles, when Rodica Arba and Elena Horvat won the
    gold. Most gold medals were scooped by Georgeta Andrunache. Alongside Doina
    Ignat, she won the Olympic gold first in Sydney in 2000, then alongside Viorica
    Susanu in Athens in 2004, and in Beijing in 2008.


    We should
    also mention the Romanian lightweight women’s double scull. In 1996, in Athens,
    Constanța Burcică and Camelia Macoviciuc won the Olympic gold. Constanța
    Burcică climbed onto the first step of the Olympic podium again in 2000 and
    2004, alongside Angela Alupei. Apart from the aforementioned events, Romania
    will be represented in Tokyo in another six rowing events: the men’s quadruple
    sculls, the women’s quadruple sculls, the women’s pair, the men’s pair, the men’s
    double-scull and the men’s 8+1 events.


    Romania has
    been taking part in rowing events in the Olympic Games since 1952, at the
    Helsinki Olympics. Since then, it only missed one edition, in 1956 in Melbourne.
    Along with gymnastics, rowing is the best-represented Romanian Olympic sport, having
    earned Romania 19 gold medals, 10 silver and 9 bronze over the years. (VP)