Athlete of the Week on RRI – Gymnast Marian Dragulescu
Marian Dragulescu won two medals in the European Championships
Florin Orban, 25.04.2017, 13:21
Romania won four medals at the European Gymnastics Championships that came to a close in Cluj-Napoca on Sunday, putting our country in second place in the medals ranking, after Russia. Marian Dragulescu won gold in the floor event and silver in the vault event. In the women’s competition, Catalina Ponor won gold in the beam event while Larisa Iordache grabbed the bronze.
For his outstanding achievement, we have designated Marian Dragulescu Athlete of the Week on RRI.
In the floor finals, Marian won gold with a score of 14,500 points. The silver went to Dmitry Lankin of Russia, who grabbed a score of 14,466 points, while Alexander Shatilov of Israel won bronze with 14,400 points. In the vault event, Dragulescu obtained an average of 14,733 points, his first jump grabbing 14,666 points and his second jump 14,800 points. The gold went to Artur Dalaoian of Russia, who grabbed 14,933 points, while Oleg Vernyayev of Ukraine came in third with 14,469 points.
Marian Dragulescu was born on December 18, 1980 in Bucharest. His first notable performance was at the European under-18 championships of Saint Petersburg in 1998, gold medal in the pommel horse event. He made his debut in international competitions at the World Championships of 1999 hosted by Tianjin, China, where he came in fourth in the vault finals.
Sunday’s gold medal is the 31st in Marian Dragulescu’s career, making him the holder of most medals in Romanian gymnastics. Dragulescu won one silver medal and two bronze in the Olympic Games. Adding to that are another ten medals in World championships, eight gold and two silver. In European Championships, Marian Dragulescu won 18 medals: ten gold, six silver and two bronze. The only medal he lacks is the Olympic gold.
Marian Dragulescu was designated Romanian athlete of the year in 2005 and 2009. Let us also note that a very difficult vault was named after him. (Translated by V. Palcu)
