Romania is represented by 106 athletes in the 33rd edition of the Summer Olympic Games, which are taking place in Paris from July 26 to August 11. Team Romania is poised to win medals in several sports, such as gymnastics, rowing, swimming, and canoeing.

This year also marks 100 years since Romania’s first participation in the Olympic Games, in 1924, also in Paris. In this article, we take a look at the Romanian delegation and the athletes most likely to bring home a medal. 

• Romania at the Olympics

Romania has won a total of 308 medals at the Summer Olympics so far, and comes in 20th among the countries with the most medals. The first medal was a bronze in rugby in 1924. 

The 1984 edition of the Olympics was the most successful for Romania, which won 53 medals and finished second in the national rankings. 

However, Romania did not have representatives at the editions in 1896 (Athens), 1904 (St Louis), 1908 (London), 1912 (Stockholm), 1920 (Antwerp), 1932 (Los Angeles), and 1948 (London) of the Olympic Games. In the Antwerp Olympics, 40 Romanian athletes were supposed to participate in seven sports, but the funds raised were insufficient to ensure travel to Belgium.

Historically, the sports that brought Romania the most medals were gymnastics (71), rowing (41), athletics (35), canoeing (34), wrestling (33), fencing (17), shooting (15), weightlifting (13), and swimming (9).

Romania won its first Olympic title at the 1952 Helsinki edition, where 128 Romanian athletes competed. Iosif Sîrbu won gold in shooting – free rifle, small caliber, prone position, 40 shots. He also set a world and Olympic record at that time. 

• Romania at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games 

Roughly 10,500 athletes from 203 nations will compete for the podium in 329 events across 36 sports disciplines at the 2024 Summer Olympics. Among them are 106 Romanians, 51 of them male and 56 female, participating in 16 sports. Team Romania was numbering 107 members before the Court of Arbitration for Sport decided to partially upheld a ban imposed on athlete Florentina Iușco by the World Anti-Doping Agency.

Sports Illustrated predicts that Romania will gather 12 medals at this edition of the Olympic Games. If true, it will be the country’s best result in the last editions. The last time Romania got more than 10 medals was in Athens in 2004, when it won 19 medals.

The entire team, along with technicians, left to Paris from the Henri Coandă Airport on Sunday, July 21.

“It’s so hard to qualify for the Olympic Games. Everyone talks about the competition, about medals, and that’s understandable, but it’s such an impressive achievement just to qualify here. I want to take this moment to congratulate everyone that we are here, in fact, to congratulate us that we are here, and I wish them success,” said David Popovici, double world champion in swimming and one of Romania's hopes at the Olympics, before leaving for Paris. 

One of Romania's notable absences is tennis star Simona Halep, recently allowed back on the court after the doping accusations were resolved, who did not receive a wild card for the Olympic Games despite the efforts of the Romanian officials. As a result, given the fierce competition, Romanian athletes are not expected to reach the podium in the sport.

Romania has the most representatives in athletics (13), water polo (13), gymnastics (7), wrestling (5), table tennis (5), and tennis (4). Romanian athletes will also participate in boxing (1), canoeing (3), cycling (1), weightlifting (2), judo (1), swimming (3), sailing (1), fencing (1), archery (1), and triathlon (1). 

• Team Romania at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, breakdown of athletes by sport:

Athletics 

Romania is represented by 3 male and 10 female athletes in the athletics section at the Paris Olympics. The country’s athletes have a promising history in this section of the Games. At the 21 editions they have participated in, Romanian athletes have won 11 gold medals, 14 silver, and 10 bronze. The best performances were achieved by Iolanda Balaș, who won two Olympic titles in 1960 and 1964 in the high jump. 

The athletes representing Romania in this section of the Games are Andrei Toader (shot put), Alin Firfirică (discus throw), Alexandru Novac (javelin throw), Andreea Miklos (400 m), Stela Rutto (3,000 m steeplechase), Alina Rotaru (long jump), Daniela Stanciu (high jump), Diana Ion (triple jump), Elena Taloș (triple jump), Bianca Ghelber (hammer throw), Delvine Relin Meringor (marathon), and Joan Chelimo Melly (marathon).

Boxing

Romania has sent only one boxer to Paris for this edition of the Olympics. Nevertheless, a world vice-champion in 2022 and a European vice-champion in 2024, Lăcrămioara Perijoc could be one of the surprises of the delegation. Bookmakers give her odds of 30,00, earning her a sixth shot at the podium. Bulgaria’s Stanimira Petrova has the first shot, with odds of 2.80 in the women’s 54kg category.

Lăcrămioara Perijoc will compete on July 27 after 4:30 PM.

Rowing

Romania's tally in Olympic rowing competitions currently stands at 20 gold medals, 11 silver, and 9 bronze. This discipline also includes some of the most decorated Romanian athletes at the Olympic Games. 

This year, the U.S. and Romania qualified the most boats, 12 each, for the Paris Games. Moreover, the eight medals (4 gold, 2 silver, and 2 bronze) won by Romanian rowers at the European Championships this summer place them among the favorites at the Olympics. As a result, Romania is expecting medals from its rowers.

The women's 8+1 crew is seen as the main favorite for the Olympic title, with odds of 1.65, according to Betano. Romania is followed by the US with odds of 3.50, and Australia with 8.00 odds.

Team Romania is made up of Magda Rusu, Roxana Anghel, Adriana Adam, Iulia Buhuș, Mădălina Bereș, Maria Tivodariu, Ioana Vrânceanu, Amalia Bereș, Victoria Petreanu. 

Romania will also compete in rowing in men’s 8+1, women’s double sculls, women’s quadruple sculls, women’s four, men’s quadruple sculls, men’s four, men’s double sculls, men’s pair, women’s pair, single sculls, and women’s lightweight double sculls.

Romania’s Simona Radiș and Ancuța Bodnar have a chance to take the gold in the women’s double sculls, according to bookmakers, even though they finished only third at the European Championship. The women's quadruple sculls crew is also among the favorites. According to Unibet, they are credited with odds of 6.00 to win the Olympic title, with the favorites being the crews from Great Britain (1.80) and the Netherlands (2.50).

The men's pair crew, formed by Marius Cozmiuc and Sergiu Bejan, vice-champions in Tokyo, also have high hopes for medals, according to Sports Illustrated. 

Swimming

Another sport in which Romania is hopeful for medals is swimming. Three Romanian swimmers will compete in Paris, namely star swimmer David Popovici (100 m freestyle and 200 m freestyle), Vlad Stancu (800 m freestyle and 1500 m freestyle), and Rebecca Diaconescu (200 m freestyle).

Popovici is seen as the second favorite in the 100 m freestyle, with odds of 3.00. He is surpassed only by Chinese swimmer Pan Zhale, who has odds of 1.90. The latter broke Popovici's world record in the 100 m freestyle at the World Championships in February. Australias Kyle Chalmers, the 100 m Olympic champion in Rio 2016 and silver medal winner in Tokyo 2020, and France's Maxime Grousset are also formidable opponents for David Popovici.

In the 200 m freestyle, however, Popovici is the main favorite, with odds of 1.34, according to Unibet. His competitors have odds of 6.50 (Belgian Lukas Martens) and 8.50 (British Matt Richards).

Gymnastics

The sport that has earned Romania the most titles and medals at the Olympics is gymnastics. Romanian athletes won 25 Olympic titles, 21 silver medals, and 26 bronze medals throughout their participation in the Olympic Games.

In Paris, Romania will be represented by seven athletes: Annaliese Drăgan, Andrei Muntean, Ana Bărbosu, Sabrina Voinea, Lilia Cosman, Amalia Ghigoarță, Andreea Preda.

The Romanian gymnastics team will compete on July 28 in Subdivision 1 of the qualifications. Four gymnasts will participate in this competition, determining the eight teams that will advance to the final, the 24 gymnasts who will compete in the all-around final, and the eight athletes who will compete in each of the four apparatus finals.

Bookmakers say that Sabrina Voinea has a real shot at the podium this year in the women’s floor exercise.

Canoeing 

Romanians Cătălin Chirilă (C1 – 1000 m), Ilie Sprâncean (C2 – 500 m), and Oleg Nuță (C2 – 500 m) will take part in the canoe events of the Olympics. Sports Illustrated bet on Cătălin Chirilă to win the bronze in his event.

Cycling

Romanian athlete Ede Molnar will represent Romania in the men's cross-country event.

Weightlifting

When it comes to weightlifting, Romania has hopes for a medal. In sports betting, Mihaela Valentina Cambei (49 kg) starts with the fifth-best chance, with odds of 15.00, while Loredana Toma (71 kg) can hope for a podium finish, credited with odds of 7.00, behind the top favorite Olivia Lynn Reeves and Angie Paola Palacios Dajomes.

Judo

Alex Creț (90 kg category), 22, from Oradea, has yet to win any medals.

Wrestling

Răzvan Arnăut (Men's Greco-Roman, 60 kg category) is rated with 40 in terms of odds to win his category, placing 10th.

Alin Alexuc Ciurariu (Men's Greco-Roman, 130 kg category) is participating in his fourth Olympic Games. He placed 12th in the 2020 Tokyo Games. This year he had a strong showing in the qualifiers, with three wins. He is also the 2020 European champion in his category.

Andreea Ana (Women's freestyle, 53 kg category) placed 16th in the Tokyo 2020 Games.  

Kriszta Tunde Incze (Women's freestyle, 62 kg category) was eighth in her category at the Tokyo Olympic Games.

Cătălina Axente (Women's freestyle, 76 kg category), age 29, was fifth in her weight category at the World Championships in Belgrade last year.

Sailing

Ebru Bolat will compete for Romania in the Olympic Games. She is a double European champion.

Water Polo

Romania’s men’s water polo team will face off against Greece on July 28 as part of Group A preliminary matches. It will then meet the US on July 30 and Croatia on August 1 before going against Italy on August 3 and Montenegro on August 5.

The team is made up of Marius Țic, Francesco Iudean, Tudor Fulea, Andrei Neamțu, Andrei Prioteasa, Andrei Țepeluș, Nicolae Oanță, Silvian Colodrovschi, Vlad Georgescu, Sebastian Oltean, Levente Vancsik, and Eduard Drăgușin.

Fencing

Mălina Călugăreanu, 27, is participating in the women's individual foil event. Left-handed, she is ranked 26th in the current season, having improved vastly from previous ones when she occupied the upper 70s places. 

Tennis 

In tennis, Romania will be represented by Irina Begu (singles and doubles with Monica Niculescu), Ana Bogdan (singles and doubles with Jaqueline Cristian), Jaqueline Cristian (singles and doubles with Ana Bogdan), Monica Niculescu (doubles with Irina Begu).

Table tennis

Ovidiu Ionescu (men's singles and mixed doubles with Bernadette Szocs), Eduard Ionescu (men's singles), Bernadette Szocs (women's singles, team, and mixed doubles with Ovidiu Ionescu), Elizabeta Samara (women's singles, team), Adina Diaconu (team), and Andreea Dragoman (team reserve) will represent Romania in table tennis.

Archery

Mădălina Amăistroaie, 21, competing for Romania at the Paris Olympic Games, is ranked 31st globally in the recurve women's section, with a 62% match-win ratio out of 91 matches. She is among the first Romanians to compete in the Games on July 26.

Triathlon

Félix Duchampt, born French, has been representing Romania since 2019. He was 36th in the Tokyo Olympic Games and is currently 48th worldwide. In 111 races, he has made the podium 20 times and won 7 times.

Romania has no athletes representing it at the Olympics in badminton, basketball, beach volleyball, diving, equestrian, field hockey, football/soccer, golf, handball, modern pentathlon, rugby sevens, shooting, skateboarding, sport climbing, surfing, synchronized swimming, taekwondo, volleyball, karate, baseball/softball, and breakdancing.

radu@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Comitetul Olimpic si Sportiv Roman on Facebook)