Romania at the Olympic Games – kayaking and canoeing

A number of racing categories in rowing have provided noteworthy results for Romania throughout the years

Florin Orban, 19.04.2021, 13:45

At the Olympic games,
Romania’s delegation competing in kayaking and canoeing boasts a record of 10
gold medals, 10 silver, and 14 bronze medals. The men’s canoe double crews
walked home with the greatest number of wins; they walked away with 5 gold
medals in the 1000m race. In Melbourne in 1956, the winners were Dumitru Alexe
and Simion Ismailciuc. In Mexico in 1968, the proud winners were Ivan
Patzaichin and Sergey Covaliov. Patzaichin also won gold in men’s canoe double
in Moscow, in 1980, and in Los Angeles, in 1984, jointly with Toma Simionov.
2000 was the year when a Romanian Olympic crew last won a medal. We recall that
back then Florin Popescu and Mitică Pricop won gold and silver medals.

At present, Romania’s canoe
double crew for the 1000m race is the only one to have secured their ticket for
the Olympic Games in Tokyo. We recall that in the World Championships held in
Stuttgart in 2019, Cătălin Chirilă and Victor Mihalachi came in 5th in
the final. Chirilă and Mihalachi did not secure their place for the boat that
will compete in Japan and could be replaced according to the rowers’ condition
ahead of next year’s Olympics. However, Cătălin Chirilă and Victor Mihalachi
still rank as the main favorites to being selected for the upcoming Olympics.

Victor Mihalachi is, at
present, the most experienced paddle rower in Romania’s kayaking and canoeing
team. Mihalachi was born on February 24, 1989, in the commune of Florițoaia Veche, in the Republic of Moldova. He got his
first remarkable results in international competitions when still a junior
paddle rower in Republic of Moldova. In Brno in 2007, Mihalachi won the world
title in the 500m race, jointly with Hariton Ivanov. In 2009 he was granted
Romanian citizenship. Ever since, Mihalachi has won four world and four
European titles. Victor Mihalachi is also the winner of a great number of
medals in top-flight competitions, in men’s 500m and 1000m canoe double races.
He is signed up by Dinamo Bucharest sports club.

Cătălin Chirilă is signed up
by Steaua Bucharest. He was born on May 11, 1988 in Tulcea, in the South-east.
As a senior paddle rower, Chirilă succeeded his first great performance at the
European Olympic Games in Minsk, in 2019, when, jointly with Victor Mihalachi,
he won gold in the canoe double 1000m race.

(Translation by Eugen Nasta)