Athlete of the week

David Popovici a couple of days ago has confirmed he was Romania's best swimmer. As part of the National Swimming Championships held in Otopeni nearby Bucharest, Popovici won three of the four speed events, namely the freestyle event, the backstroke and the butterfly event. Actually, Popovici won six finals. He came in first in the 50m, 100m and 400m freestyle, in the 100m backstroke and in the 50m and 100m butterfly events. For the latter two events David Popovici set a new national record. Also, in the 100m freestyle, an event in which he holds the world record, Popovici met the qualification target set for the 2024 edition of the Olympic Games. Moreover, David Popovici was a Dinamo Bucharest Sports Club team member, winning silver in the men's 4x100 mixed relay event. Reason enough for Radio Romania International to designate David Popovici the Athlete of the week.

David Popovici was born in Bucharest on September 15, 2004. He compelled recognition in juniors' competitions. In the 2021 edition of the European Championships he won the 200m, 100m 50m freestyle events, setting a world record in the 50m freestyle. Subsequently, Popovici broke the world records in the 100m and 200m freestyle events. David qualified to the Tokyo Olympics where he came in 4th in the 200m freestyle, being two hundredths of a second away from stepping onto a step of the podium. In the seniors' competitions, David Popovici in Russia's Kazan, in November, 2021 won the European title in the 200m freestyle event. It was his first notable title in his career.

As an absolute first for Romanian sports, in June, 2022, David Popovici won gold in the 100m and 200m freestyle evens as part of the World Championship in Budapest. In August, 2022, at the European championship in Rome, Popovici set a new world record in the 100m freestyle event, clocking 46 seconds and 86 hundredths of a second. He was that close to setting a new world record in the European 200m final. David Popovici clocked one minute, 47 seconds and 97 hundredths of a second, a new juniors' world and European record, as well as a new record of the European Championship.