Athlete of the week
Wrestler Andreea Ana
Eugen Nasta, 09.04.2024, 01:45
The European Pre-Olympic Wrestling Championship was held in Azerbaijan’s Baku late last week. The competition offered 36 places for the Paris Olympics, two places for each category, in the Greek-roman style, free style and women’s wrestling. More than 300 wrestlers proved their mettle in Baku, while representing Romania were 15 wrestlers. However, it was only Andreea Ana who secured her qualification to the Olympic Games in Paris.
Reason enough of Radio Romania International to designate Andreea Ana the Athlete of the Week.
In Baku, Ana was one of the top two wrestlers in the 53-kilogram category. In the preliminaries, Andreea Ana defeated French challenger Tatiana Debien. In the quarterfinals, Andreea outclassed Macedonian opponent Veronika Rjabovolova, then in the semifinals, Andreea Ana defeated German wrestler Annika Wendle. Also qualifying in the 53-kilogram category was the vice-European champion in 2017, Russia’s Natalia Malysheva.
Andreea Beatrice Ana is the defending European champion in the 55-kilogram category. She was born in Mangalia on November 14, 2000. In 2018, Andreea won the bronze medal at the World Youth Championship for the U-23 Athletes in Bucharest. In 2019, also in Bucharest, Andreea won bronze in the European Seniors’ Championship. Andreea Ana also won bronze in Warsaw in 2021. Andreea represented Romania at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, where she came in 16.
A string of gold medals followed, won in major competitions, Among them, the European Seniors’ Championship in Belgrade, the European Youth Championship in Plovdiv and the European Seniors’ Championship in Budapest in 2022.
In Hungary, Andreea Ana succeeded to win the first women’s wrestling gold medal for Romania, emerging as winner in the 55-kilogram category. She also retained her European title in Zagreb in 2023. We recall that back then, thanks to Andreea Ana’s victory but also due to Alexandra Anghel’s feat in the 72-kilogram category, the Romanian delegation for the first time in 43 years succeeded to walk home with two gold medals won in the same edition of the European Championship. At the European competition held in Bucharest in 2024, she was Romania’s only representative who walked home with a gold medal.
