Athlete of the week on RRI – Ionela Livia Cozmiuc and Gianina-Elena Beleaga

The two had an excellent run in the World Rowing Championships

Florin Orban, 18.09.2018, 12:10

Romania has retained its place among the world’s elite when it comes to rowing, in the wake of Romanian delegation’s excellent run in the recently-held World Rowing Championships, hosted by the city of Plovdiv in Bulgaria. Of the nine crews that travelled south of the Danube, six made it to the finals. Romanian rowers walked away with medals in two of the races. Both medals were won on the first day of the finals, on Saturday. First came the silver medals won in the men’s coxless pair race by Marius-Vasile Cozmiuc and Ciprian Tudosă. The Croatian crew won the race, while third-placed was the French crew. Then in the women’s lightweight double sculls finals, defending champions Ionela-Livia Cozmiuc and Gianina-Elena Beleagă emerged as winners. Stepping onto the second and third step of the podium were the crews of the US and the Netherlands, respectively. On account of their most notable feat, Radio Romania International designated Cozmiuc and Beleaga Athletes of the Week.

Ionela-Livia Cozmiuc, nee Lehaci, and Gianina Elena-Beleagă put Romania in the lead having won the lightweight double sculls race, after more than a decade. We recall that from 1996 to 2004, the Romanian women rowers had dominated that race at the Olympics, through Constanţa Burcică and Camelia Mihalcea, in 1996, then through Burcică and Angela Alupei, in 2000 and 2004.

Ionela-Livia Cozmiuc was born on January 3rd 1995 in Câmpulung Moldovenesc. Gianina-Elena Beleagă was born in Valea Moldovei on May 21,1995. The rowers have been pairing up since 2015. In 2016, Cozmiuc and Beleaga qualified for the Olympic Games in Rio, yet their performance was below par back then. The year 2017 began unassumingly, with a 4th-place in the Seniors’ European Championships in Racice. Then in July 2017 at the World Under-23 Championships in Bulgaria, the two won the gold medal. The year’s career best was the world title Cozmiuc and Beleaga won at the seniors’ World Championships hosted by the city of Sarasota in the United States.

At the European Championships in Glasgow this year, all hopes were pinned on Cozmiuc and Beleaga to win with a medal. But it wasn’t means to be, as the two Romanian rowers came in 4th, being outclassed by the crews of the Netherlands, Poland and Switzerland. However, Cozmiuc and Beleaga certainly got their revenge at the World Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.

(Translated by E. Nasta)