Olympic Profiles – Swimmer Robert Glinta
Robert Glinta holds high hopes of winning a medal at the Olympic Games
Florin Orban, 17.11.2020, 13:45
The first Romanian athlete to secure qualification to the Olympic Games in Tokyo is swimmer Robert Glinta. At the end of April last year Glinta met the Olympic requirement in the 100-m backstroke race in a competition held in Guangzhou, China. Counting towards the first stage in the FINA Champions Swim Series, the competition consisted of 14 individual events, where four worldclass swimmer enrolled. The Romanian competed alongside Xu Jiavu of China, the Olympic vice-champion of 2016 and a world champion in 2017, Russias Kliment Kolesnikov, several-time European gold-medalist and Ryosuke Irie of Japan, three-time Olympic medalist in 2012. Glinta finished the race in 3rd place, in 53.70 seconds, ahead of Kliment Kolesnikov.
Robert Glinta is currently in isolation, training in his own living room on an ego-stimulator. Adding to that are dozens of physical drills and light running in the woods bordered by his parents house, near Pitesti, where he is currently staying. As regards his set goal for the Olympic Games, Robert said: “My personal goal is the gold medal. Every morning I wake up thinking about it, and every time I train my only thought is scooping gold. Ive come to the conclusion that this the best motivation for me and the only sustainable sources of energy that makes me give my best in everything I do. In the end, this is what it is all about, this is how medals are won, building yourself up brick by brick. Thinking about it will help me achieve the best possible result, no matter the outcome, because I cant promise anything”.
Robert Glinţǎ was born on April 18, 1997 in Pitesti. He started practicing various sports as a child. He began with karate and then he took up swimming. He has broken tens of national records both in the children, under – 21 and senior competitions. He was the only Romanian swimmer who reached the finals of the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, where his best result was finishing 8th in the 100-m backstroke heat, with 53.50 seconds.
(Translated by V. Palcu)
