Swimmer David Popovici
The Azeri capital city Baku last week played host to the 15th edition of the Olympic Festival of the European Youth. Romania was 11th-placed according to the final version of the nations' competition, with a record of 19 medals, of which four were gold, ten silver and five bronze medals. Romanian athletes stepped onto a step of the podium in six of the nine sports disciplines they competed in. In wrestling, Georgiana Lavinia Antuca won gold, in the 46-kilogram category, Ana-Maria Pîrvu walked away with silver in the 49-kilogram category, and also silver went to Robert-Alexandru Matei, in 50-kilogram category. In the 52-kilgram category, Alexandra-Maria Paşca walked home with bronze.
In swimming, David Popovici won three medals, gold in the 100-meter freestyle race, and silver, in the 50 and 200-meter freestyle races, respectively. In the women's version of the swimming event, Bianca Andreea Costea stepped onto the first step of the podium in the 50-meter freestyle race. In artistic gymnastics, Romania's women's team made of Irina Antonia Duţă, Silviana Maria Sfiringu-Gheorghe and Ioana Andreea Stănciulescu won the silver medals. In the individual finals, Sfiringu-Gheorghe won silver in the beam event, bronze in the vault event and another bronze medal in the floor event. Stănciulescu won silver in the floor event and bronze in the uneven parallel bars event. In the men's vault final, Robert Burtănete won the silver medal, while his brother, Gabriel Burtănete, won bronze. In athletics, Talida Sfârghiu walked away with silver in the finals of the 1,500-meter race. The Romanian delegation's only medal in a team sports discipline was won by the women's volleyball squad, the runner-up team according to the final rankings.
Swimmer David Popovici had an excellent run in the Olympic Festival of European Youth. David's three gold medals prompted Radio Romania International to designate him the Athlete of the week.
15-year old David Popovici is signed up by Steaua Bucharest Sports club. His coach is Adrian Radulescu, under whose supervision David succeeded remarkable results. In Baku, in the 100-meter freestyle race, David Popovici clocked 49 seconds and 82 hundredths, the new record of the competition and also the new national record in the 15, 16, 17, and 18 year-old categories.
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