Olympic profile 2024
Rowers Ioana Vranceanu and Roxana Anghel
Eugen Nasta, 13.11.2024, 13:45
Rowing was, at the Paris Olympics, Romania delegation’s strongest point. Of the 9 medals won by the Romanian athletes, 5 were won by the rowers. Of the 13 athletes that stepped onto a step of the podium in the rowing events, four rowers won two medals each, one gold and one silver.
Two of the rowers are Ioana Vrânceanu and Roxana Anghel, who came in second in the women’s pair event. The other two are Simona Radiş and Ancuţa Bodnar, silver medalists in the double sculls event. Vranceanu, Anghel, Radis and Bodnar are also members of the coxed eight crew, winner of the Olympic title.
This week we shall focus on Ioana Vrânceanu and Roxana Anghel.
Ahead of their excellent run in Paris, Vranceanu and Anghel won the European title in women’s double sculls event in Szeged, in 2024. At the World Championship in Belgrade, in 2023, Vranceanu and Anghel won the bronze medal. As part of the of the Paris Olympics they had no problem going past the heats and then securing a laid-back qualification to the semifinals.
Vranceanu and Anghel then came in second in the first semifinals and reached as far as the finals. Winning a medal was a hard-fought undertaking. The Romanians had a sluggish start, being 5th-placed after the first 500 meters. Then they advanced with one position after the other in each intermediate point. Halfway through the race they were fourth placed and in 1,500 meters came in third.
Vranceanu and Anghel completed the race on the second position, having outclassed Lithuania and Australia. Gold went to defending world champions, the Dutch Ymkje Clevering and Veronique Meester. The Australian crew stepped onto the second step of the podium.
In the coxed eight event, the Romanian crew succeeded a laid-back win arriving five seconds earlier than Great Britain’s boat that carried the runner-up crew. Joining Vrânceanu, Anghel, Bodnar and Radiş in the coxed eight boat were Maria Magdalena Rusu, Maria Lehaci, Adriana Adam, Amalia Bereş and Victoria Ştefania Petreanu as coxswain.
Ioana Vrânceanu was born on March 7, 1994 in Târgu Mureş, central Transylvania. Ioana’s first great performance occurred in 2017, when she was a member of Romania’s coxed eight crew, a gold medalist at the World Rowing Championships in Sarasota, Florida, the USA.
Roxana Anghel hails from Câmpulung Moldovenesc, in the north. She was born on January 1st, 1998. She got a taste for major wins in 2019, as a member of the coxed eight crew that emerged as winner of the European title in Lucerne.
