RRI Sports Club

The European Week of Sport

Florin Orban, 27.09.2023, 13:45

Romania has one of the lowest percentages in Europe when it comes to
practicing sports, either as a leisure activity or professionally. The
consequences can be easily seen in the increasingly precarious health of the
younger generation and Romania’s results in international sports competitions.
Due to a shortage of athletes, Romania has not won a medal in world
competitions in athletics, gymnastics and wrestling for many years. In football
and rugby, Romania is in the grey area of world rankings, with national sides
being a source of constant disappointment.

To support sports and physical activity in general, events were also
staged in Romania a few days ago as part of the European Week of Sport. At the
opening, we asked Valeria Răcilă van Groningen, who was Romania’s Olympic
rowing champion in 1984 at the Los Angeles Games, how hard it is today to draw
children to sports:

It’s very difficult at the moment, for other temptations are bigger for
young people today. An event such as this encourages physical activity, and we
know that in Romania we have children who suffer from heart diseases and
obesity and we hope such events will encourage them do to more physical
activities, not necessarily become Olympic champions, but practice sports for
pleasure and if they are attracted to a certain sport, pursue it
professionally.

The great former fencer and 1996 Olympic champion Laura Badea told us:

First of all they have to want to do some form of physical activity, and
that means more health, less need of hospitals, less need of medicine. Children
must understand that sport is an education. Not necessarily professionally, but
practicing a sport helps you organise your time better, be more active, have a
healthy mind in a healthy body, and also, if they want to achieve results, it
is a launch pad, a starting point for those who truly wish to achieve great
results.

Let’s just add that the European Week of Sport is an initiative of the
European Commission aimed at promoting sports and physical activity around
Europe. The project forms part of the
European Union’s new #BeActive campaign and promotes a healthy and active
lifestyle and raises awareness about the importance of sports and an active
lifestyle for the health and wellbeing of communities. (CM)