Athletes of the week on Radio Romania International

Romanian rowing, again successful in Europe

Florin Orban, 13.10.2020, 13:24

The
European Rowing Championships held in Poland’s Poznan this past weekend saw the
Romanian delegation regaining its place among Europe’s elite. The Romanian
delegation came in 3rd in the nations’ competition, with a record of
six medals, of which four were gold, one silver and one bronze. The gold medals
went to the women’s double sculls and men’s double sculls crews, who were joined
by women’s coxless pair and women’s coxed octuple sculls crews. Romania’s men’s
coxed octuple scull crew walked away with silver, while the bronze medal went
to women’s coxless pair crew, the lightweight version.

Of these feats, the most outstanding was that of the women’s double
sculls crew. In the final, Nicoleta-Ancuţa Bodnar and Simona Geanina Radiş took
the lead from the very start of the race, also managing to have a constant
distance from their contenders, all along the race. The Romanian clocked 6 mins, 56 secs and 860
thousandths. Following suit was the Dutch crew made of Roos de Jong and Lisa
Scheenaard, who finished the race more than six seconds later than the
Romanians. Stepping onto the third step of the podium were Helene Lefebvre and Elodie
Ravera-Scaramozzino. For their win, Ancuta Petru-Bodnar and Simona Radis have
been designated the Athletes of the Week on Radio Romania International.

Nicoleta-Ancuța
Bodnar was born on September 25, 1998 in Suceava County’s Vatra Moldoviței, in
the north. Simona Geanina Radiș also hails from a northern Romanian county,
Botosani, where she was born on April 5, 1999. The two have paired up as
competitors since 2019, when they succeeded to go through to the Tokyo Olympics
since they became vice-world champions in the double sculls event, a noteworthy
feat, for which the Romanian Rowing Federation designated them the Athletes of
the Year in 2019. Ancuta Petru-Bodnar and Simona Radis have confirmed, when, in
2020, they won the U-23 European title at the European Championships held in
Germany’s Duisburg in September. The two have yet again confirmed their
standing with their most recent win in Poznan.

(translation by Eugen Nasta)