Olympic Profiles – Fencer Ana-Mria Popescu
Ana-Maria Popescu is favorite to win a medal at the Tokyo Olympics
Florin Orban, 09.07.2020, 13:45
Romanian fencer
Ana-Maria Popescu is the Romanian athlete with the highest chances of winning a
medal in the Olympic Games in Tokyo next year. Right now she is ranked first in
the world women’s standings, with 176 thousand points. She is followed by
Nathalie Moellhausen of Brazil and Yiwen Sun of China.
Recently
Ana-Maria underwent a right knee surgery which, she says, went well. She is now
undergoing a recovery program at home, aiming to return to full form ahead of
the competition in Tokyo.
Ana Maria
Popescu, better known to fencing lovers as Ana Maria Branza, was born on
November 26, 1984. For the first time ever Ana Maria Popescu compelled
international recognition in 2001, when she won the title at the World Cadets
Championships held in Poland. In 2002, Ana Maria Popescu reaped the world
juniors’ title at the world championships in Turkey. 2002 turned out to be a
special year for Ana Maria Popescu, who walked away with silver from the World
Seniors Championships held in Lisbon. At the Athens Olympics in 2004, when all
Romanians’ hopes were pinned on Ana Maria Popescu, the Romanian fencer came in
16th, an unassuming position back then. In 2008 in Beijing, however,
Ana Maria Popescu braced up and won the silver medal, the highest distinction
for Romanian fencing at the Beijing Olympics. In 2010 and 2011, Ana Maria
Popescu was part of the Romanian side that won the world epee title in the
nations’ competition. In 2013, at the European Championships in Croatia, Ana
Maria Popescu won gold in the women’s singles and silver in the nations’
competition. At the European Championships held in Strasbourg in 2014 and in
Montreux, in 2015, Ana Maria Popescu won gold in the nations’ competition. Ana
Maria Popescu’s career best so far occurred in 2016. At the Olympic Games in
Rio, the Romanian fencer was part of the lineup that walked away with gold from
the nations’ competition.
(Translated by
V. Palcu)
