Athletes of the Week on RRI – Raluca Strămăturaru, Valentin Crețu and Paul Pepene
Romania will be represented at the Winter Olympics in Italy by 29 athletes.
Florin Orban, 03.02.2026, 13:45
The Winter Olympics will start in Italy at the end of this week. Romania will be represented by 29 athletes. Of these, three are at their fifth Olympic participation, which is why, today, they are the Athletes of the Week on Radio Romania International. Their names are Raluca Strămăturaru, Valentin Crețu and Paul Pepene.
Raluca Strămăturaru is from Sinaia, where she was born on November 22, 1985. She has been sledding since the age of 13. International performances came relatively late. At the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver, she ranked 21st in individual sledding. In 2013, at the European Championships in Oberhof, she ranked 10th in the individual competition. She recorded the highest Olympic performance of her career at the 2018 Games in PyeongChang, South Korea, when she ranked 7th in the individual competition. She was then designated the flag bearer at the closing ceremony of the competition. She also carried Romania’s flag in Beijing, in 2022, alongside cross-country skier Paul Pepene, at the opening ceremony of the competitions.
Valentin Creţu is also from Sinaia, and will represent Romania also in the luge. He was born on September 9, 1989. The 2010 Vancouver Games also represented his Olympic debut. He achieved his first notable result in 2013, at the World Youth Championships in Altenberg, where he ranked 5th in the singles. In 2022, at the Beijing Olympics, he was part of the team that ranked 9th in the relay race by nations.
Paul Pepene was born in Braşov, on May 21, 1988. He has been doing sports since he was 10 years old. He started with biathlon, then switched to cross-country skiing. In 2010, he won his first important medal in his career – gold at the Youth World Championships in the 30-kilometer pursuit event, in Hinterzarten, Germany. He also achieved good results in roller skiing, the summer version of cross-country skiing, where he was twice a silver medalist at the World Championships, in 2013 and 2021. (EE)
