Athlete of the week on RRI: Gymnast Marian Dragulescu

Marian Dragulescu is Romanias best gymnast in the new millennium.

Florin Orban, 28.03.2017, 13:13

Marian Dragulescu is Romania’s best gymnast in the new millennium. There is only one Romanian athlete who won better results than Dragulescu. His name is Marius Urzica the only one to have reaped gold in a men’s Olympic contest. Aged 36, Marian Dragulescu does not seize to amaze us as he still is among the world’s elite in the floor and vault events.

At the end of last week, this remarkable Romanian athlete attended the World Cup in Doha, Qatar, where he managed to come third in the floor event and eighth in the vault contest. For doing so well in Qatar, Radio Romania International has designated Dragulescu the Athlete of the Week.

Marian Dragulescu was born on December 18th 1980 in Bucharest. He won his first important result at the European Junior Contest in Saint Petersburg in 1998, when he came first in the pommel horse event. His prize closet, which includes 8 world titles and two European ones, still lacks an Olympic gold, although he came close enough to the first position in the ranking. He walked away with three medals from Athens Olympics — silver in the floor contest and bronze with the team and in the vault event. In the floor contest he got the same mark as Olympic champion Kyle Shewfelt of Canada and lost through a referee decision. However, he missed the second vault after getting the highest mark in the contest. In 2005 and 2009 he was designated the best Romanian athlete of the year.

He withdrew from competitions twice, in 2005 and 2012 but returned every time. His latest performance was at the European championships in Bern last year, when he reaped silver in the floor and vault events. An exercise in the vault event is bearing his name.