Romania-Olimpique Games

Romania first participated at the Olympic Games in 1900 with one athlete in the trap shooting event, but it wasn’t until the 1924 Games in Paris, France it sent its first team to compete. Romania were also the only Eastern Bloc country not to boycott the 1984 Games in Los Angeles, United States.

Rifle rifle shooter Iosif Sírbu claimed Romania’s first gold medal at the 1952 Games in Helsinki, Finland and Romania has won at least two gold medals at every edition of the Summer Games since.

Romania has a long Olympic tradition in rowing and gymnastics, especially in women’s gymnastics where they are one of the most successful countries in Olympic history. Indeed, Romania’s most successful Olympic athlete is gymnast Nadia Comâneci. As a 14-year-old at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, Canada she made history when she recorded perfect scores of 10 on the uneven bars and beam during the team competition. She finished the Montreal competition with seven perfect scores, gold medals in the beam, uneven bars and all-around competitions and a bronze medal in the floor exercise. Four years later at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, Soviet Union she continued her winning ways with individual gold on the beam and floor and a silver in the all-around competition. She also won team silver medals at both the 1976 and 1980 Games to finish her Olympic career with nine medals in total. Other successful Romanian gymnasts are Simona Amanar the all-around gold medallist at the 2000 Games in Sydney, Australia, Daniela Silivas a triple gold medallist at the 1988 Games in Seoul, South Korea and Catalina Ponor the individual champion on beam and floor at the 2004 Games in Athens, Greece.

Rower Elisabeta Lipa is one of the most decorated rowers in the history of the Games. She won five gold medals, two silvers and one bronze in a career that spanned 20 years. She won her first gold medal at the 1984 Games in double sculls and won her last as part of Romania’s eight at the 2004 Games in Athens, Greece.

Romania has also produced some fine track athletes with the most popular being middle distance runner Gabriela Szabo who became 5000m champion a the 2000 Games in Sydney, Australia.

First OG Appearance:	1900
Number of OG Appearance:	18
Summary:	Medals per sport Sport Gold Silver Bronze Total Athletics 10 14 10 34 Boxing 1 9 15 25 Canoe/Kayak – Flatwater 10 10 14 34 Equestrian – Dressage 0 0 1 1 Equestrian – Jumping 0 1 0 1 Fencing 3 3 6 12 Gymnastics – Artistic 23 19 24 66 Gymnastics – Rhythmic 0 1 0 1 Handball 0 1 3 4 Judo 0 0 3 3 Rowing 18 10 7 35 Rugby Union 0 0 1 1 Shooting 5 4 5 14 Swimming 3 2 4 9 Volleyball 0 0 1 1 Weightlifting 2 6 3 11 Wrestling – Freestyle 1 0 4 5 Wrestling – Greco-Roman 6 8 13 27 Total 82 88 114 284 Medals per year Year Gold Silver Bronze Total 1924 0 0 1 1 1936 0 1 0 1 1952 1 1 2 4 1956 5 3 5 13 1960 3 1 6 10 1964 2 4 6 12 1968 4 6 5 15 1972 3 6 7 16 1976 4 9 14 27 1980 6 6 13 25 1984 20 16 17 53 1988 7 11 6 24 1992 4 6 8 18 1996 4 7 9 20 2000 11 6 9 26 2004 8 5 6 19 Total 82 88 114 284