Romania is currently on the 16th place in the national ranking of medals at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. Star swimmer David Popovici secured Romania’s first gold after dominating the 200m freestyle event. 

First place in the ranking currently goes to Japan, with 13 medals, 7 of which gold, while France and China take second and third places. Australia and South Korea take fourth and fifth, while the US is in sixth.

Here's what Team Romania did in several sports so far:

Judo 

Romanian Alex Creț won against Hungarian judoka Krisztian Toth in the first round of the Olympic judo tournament in Paris, in the 90 kg category. Toth accumulated penalties for false attacks and non-combativeness, and Creț was declared the winner.

Following this victory, Creț advanced to the round of 16, where he will compete against Brazilian Rafael Macedo later today.

Gymnastics 

Romania took part in the artistic gymnastics final and finished seventh. The US team won the Olympic title, Italy came second, and Brazil third. Off the podium were Great Britain, Canada, and China.

The Romanian team started promisingly on the floor, and after the first two rotations, they were in fifth place. Mistakes on the uneven bars and the beam, the final apparatus, pulled the team down. Sabrina Voinea had to perform on the beam while US athlete Simone Biles was on the floor in thunderous applause, which made concentrating difficult.

Ana Barbosu, who also qualified for the floor final, declared herself satisfied with the team's result. "We qualified for the final in 8th place and finished 7th. It is a good result and an important step towards better performances!"

The result marks Romania’s return to an Olympic gymnastics final for teams for the first time in 12 years.

Former gymnast and Olympic gold medalist Nadia Comăneci watched the team final from the stands alongside former American tennis player Serena Williams: "I explained to Serena how gymnastics works because she had never been to a gymnastics competition. She liked it very much, and so did her daughter, who I believe does gymnastics,” she said, cited by ProTV.

Swimming

Romanian star swimmer David Popovici performed excellently in the semifinals for the 100m freestyle, after winning gold in the 200m event. He came in second, after the Chinese swimmer Pan, who swam the distance in 47.21, the best time in the semifinals. 

"It was a tough race. The pace was fast. We were tense; you could see it on our faces before the start. It shows, it feels. We had a long night, I fell asleep late, had dinner after a doping control, and today was hard. But [during the final] I will give it my all. We will see what happens," said David Popovici.

The final will be at 11:39 PM on Wednesday evening, Romania time.

Popovici could win two gold medals at the Paris Olympics. So far, in the history of Romanian swimming, only Diana Mocanu has managed to win two gold medals at the Olympic Games. 

Water Polo

The Romanian water polo team lost 8-14 to the United States. This is the second defeat in the group, with matches against Montenegro, Italy, and Croatia to follow.

Boxing

Lăcrămioara Perijoc, Romania’s only boxer at the Olympics, lost in the round of 16 to Mongolian Munguntsetseg Enkhjargal after 3 out of 5 judges saw the latter as the winner. 

"I am proud to have represented my country at the Olympic Games. I would have liked to go further, but unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be. I am a little disappointed but content that I did my duty,” she said, cited by COSR on Facebook.

Rowing

Romania’s four-row boat crew managed to qualify for the finals. Ciprian Tudosă, Andrei Mândrilă, Sergiu Bejan, and Ștefan Berariu finished 2nd in the repechage race. Italy crossed the line first, and Romania left France, the host country, out of the final.

Florin Enache and Andrei Cornea also had a superb race in the double sculls semifinals of the Games. The two are in the final and eager for a big surprise. Romania crossed the finish line in 3rd place, after the Netherlands and Spain. 

Simona Radiș and Ancuța Bodnar are also in the final and will defend their Olympic title won at Tokyo 2020 in the double sculls event. "We never gave up for a moment; we did not accept not qualifying!" confirmed Simona Radiș. 

The Romanian men's pair rowing team, composed of Florin Lehaci and Florin Arteni, qualified on Wednesday for the final as well.

Table Tennis

Romanian table tennis player Bernadette Szöcs qualified for the round of 16 after defeating Margarita Pesotska 4-1. She is the only Romanian representative left in the Olympic singles table tennis competition after Elizabeta Samara and Eduard Ionescu were eliminated.

Tennis

Romanian Jaqueline Cristian lost 4-6, 6-3, 4-6 against Germany’s Angelique Kerber. In the doubles match, Jaqueline Cristian and Ana Bogdan lost to the Japanese pair Shuko Aoyama/Ena Shibahara.

Romania no longer has any representatives in the Olympic tennis competition.

Cycling

Ede Karoly Molnar, the only representative of Romania in the Olympic cycling events at Paris 2024, did not manage to finish the mountain bike cross-country race due to technical reasons.

radu@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: COSR on Facebook)