On July 9th
\n1922, in Alameda, California, Johnny Weissmuller ended the one hundred meter
\nrace in less than one minute. Born in Freidorf, close to Timisoara, in western
\nRomania, Weissmuller was to become famous for both his Olympic wins and the
\npart he played in Tarzan, the Ape Man series. After more than 100 years, another
\nswimmer born in Romania broke the record in the one hundred meter race to officially
\nbecome the fastest swimmer in history. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
At the European
\nChampionships in Rome on August 13th the Romanian David Popovici
\nended the one hundred meter race in 46 seconds and 86 hundredths beating a 13
\nyear old record held by Cielo Filho of Brazil, who ended the race in 46 seconds
\nand 91 hundredths at the world championships in Rome in 2009, when tech suits
\nfor increasing speed were still allowed. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Besides the
\ntitle in Rome, David Popovici has also reaped the world and European titles in
\nthe 100 and 200 meter free-style races both in junior and senior competitions.
\nHis great performances have also brought him Athlete of the Year title from
\nRadio Romania International. He also compelled recognition in the world
\nchampionship in Budapest in June. The two titles he won in the 100 and 200
\nmeter races were a first for the Romanian swimming. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Thousands of
\nswimming fans gathered at the new aqua facility in Otopeni, close to Bucharest
\nin July, to witness his performance in the European junior championship, from where
\nRomanian swimmers walked away with 9 medals. David won the 50, 100 and 200 meter
\nfree-style races and had a big hand in the gold medal won by the 4X100 relay
\nteam of Romania, a country, which ended in the third position after Hungary and
\nPoland. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
At the European
\nchampionships in Rome and the world record in the 100 meter race, Popovici came
\nvery close to a world record also in the European final of 200 meters. He won
\nthe race in one minute, 47 seconds and 97 hundredths, one second after German
\nPaul Biederman who set the record also in Rome in 2009. Popovici’s time was on hundredth
\nafter the one of his idol, Michael Phelps, who reaped the Olympic gold in
\nBeijing, in 2008. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Romania came
\nfourth in the nations’ ranking of the world junior championships held in Lima,
\nPeru, in September. The Romanians walked away with four medals, two silver and
\ntwo bronze, from the aforementioned competition. David stepped onto the podium’s
\nhighest step three times; after the finals of the 100 meter and 200 meter races
\nand after the 4×100 meter relay race. With the mixed relay race of 100 meters
\nhe obtained the silver medal. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The
\nyear ended with the world short course championships in Melbourne, where David
\nPopovici became the silver medalist in the 200 meter race, came fourth in the
\n100 meters and set a new junior world record. <\/p>\n
(bill)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Swimmer David Popovici has been designated athlete of the year<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":93,"featured_media":123161,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40940],"tags":[31942,31331,29456,36457],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-123192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport","tag-championships","tag-gold","tag-medal","tag-popovici"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n