Athletes of the Week

The Tokyo Olympics have entered the final week of competitions. Most Romanian athletes have already competed, many of them with good results. The highest performances were recorded, so far, by the rowing team, whose athletes have climbed the podium three times. In the women’s double sculls, Romania won the gold medals, and in the men’s quadruple sculls and coxless pair events, the silver medals. Following these results, Radio Romania International designates the members of the women’s double sculls crew, Ancuţa Bodnar and Simona Radiş, Athletes of the Week.

Florin Orban, 03.08.2021, 11:32

The Tokyo Olympics have entered the final week of competitions. Most Romanian athletes have already competed, many of them with good results. The highest performances were recorded, so far, by the rowing team, whose athletes have climbed the podium three times. In the women’s double sculls, Romania won the gold medals, and in the men’s quadruple sculls and coxless pair events, the silver medals. Following these results, Radio Romania International designates the members of the women’s double sculls crew, Ancuţa Bodnar and Simona Radiş, Athletes of the Week.

In the double sculls final, Ancuţa Bodnar and Simona Radiş won after leading the race all the way through. The podium was completed by rowers from New Zealand and the Netherlands. The Romanian boat recorded a time of 6 minutes, 41 seconds and 3 hundredths, setting a new Olympic record, over 3 seconds better than the previous record, set in London in 2012 by the British crew.

Ancuta Bodnar was born on September 25th, 1998, in the village of Vatra Moldovitei, in the northern county of Suceava. She is registered with the Dinamo Bucharest club. Simona Radis was born on April 5th, 1999, in Botosani, in northern Romania and is a member of Dinamo’s rival club, Steaua Bucharest. The two sportswomen have formed a pair for the double sculls events since 2019. Their first performance was recorded the same year, at the beginning of June, when they won the silver medals at the European Championships in Lucerne, Switzerland.

In September, in Linz, they won the silver medals at the World Championship. At the next major competitions, namely the European Championships in Poland, in Poznan, in 2020, and in Italy, in Varese, this year, Ancuţa Bodnar and Simona Radiş have won the gold medals.You have been listening to Athlete of the Week. Don’t’ forget you can revisit our sports shows on the internet, at rri.ro, and also on Facebook. (MI)