Olympic Profiles 2024
Andrei Cornea and Marian Enache are two Romanian rowers who made history in Paris
Florin Orban, 03.09.2024, 13:45
At the Olympics in Paris Romania’s rowers claimed the first gold medals after a break of 32 years. The last rowers to step onto the first step of the Olympic podium were part of the Romanian four who ran in Barcelona in 1992. The gold medal tradition was carried on in Paris by Andrei Cornea and Marian Enache, the new Olympic champions of the double scull race.
The two rowers managed to put on a thrilling performance in the qualifiers. They qualified in the third position, the last to ensure participation in the A finals and that proved to be a lesson for them, a lesson that they learned pretty well. The Romanians got the upper hand in the final race, which they dominated almost entirely ending it in 6 minutes, 12 seconds and 58 hundredths, almost a second and a half before the runner-up Dutch team.
Andrei Cornea: “We didn’t look back until the last hundreds of meters as we trusted the boat from the very beginning. I was knackered in the last part of the race, but I looked right and I realized the others were more tired than I was and that somehow gave me strength. I knew I could endure for another 10 strokes and they would not be able to overtake us.”
That was Romania’s first gold in the men’s double scull race.
Marian Florian Enache: “We knew that nothing was impossible because we worked very hard and we eventually made it to the finals. And if you make it to such a great sporting event you cannot think that the others are stronger or that you cannot succeed. We knew that any failure was impossible, out of the question and all. And if you really want to and you work day in and day out with great goals in mind, you’ll always succeed.”
Andrei Sebastian Cornea was born in Vatra Dornei, northern Romania on 10 November 1999. He represented Romania in a major competition at the European Championships in Poznan in 2020, when he ran with Romania’s four.
At the European championships in Szeged this year he joined Marian Enache in Romania’s double scull and the two walked away with gold.
Marian Florian Enache was born in Târgu Cărbuneşti, south-western Romania on 5 August 1995. Together with Ioan Prundeanu ranked ninth at the Olympics in Tokyo in 2020.
