RRI Sports Club

Romania at the Olympic Games- Naturalized athletes aspiring to the Olympic podium

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Florin Orban, 14.07.2021, 13:45

The Romanian wrestling team that will represent Romania at the Tokyo Olympic Games includes five athletes. Among them is one single fighter who has been a medalist at an Olympics, namely Albert Saritov, who won a bronze medal at the Rio Games, in 2016, in the 97 kg category. He was the first naturalized athlete to win a medal for the Romanian Olympic team. Born in Russia, with Chechen origins, Albert Ramazanovich Saritov is one of the athletes who stands real chances to win an Olympic medal for the delegation of Romanian fighters. Before becoming a Romanian citizen, in April 2016, Saritov achieved a series of performances under the colors of Russia. His biggest achievement was the bronze medal at the World Championships held in 2011, in Istanbul, in the 84 kg category.

Another athlete who started his international career under a different flag is the canoeist Victor Mihalachi. He was born in the Republic of Moldova on February 24, 1989, in the commune of Floriţoaia Veche and obtained the first international performances, as a junior, for Moldova. In 2007, in Brno, he became world junior champion with Hariton Ivanov, in the 500 meters event. In 2009 he received Romanian citizenship. Since then, he has won four world champion titles and four European champion titles, alongside many other medals in the top races, in the canoe double event, on the distances of 500 and 1,000 meters. He is licensed at Dinamo Bucharest. In Tokyo, he will also compete in the mens canoe double 1,000m together with Cătălin Chirilă. The two will be the only representatives of Romania in kayak-canoe event. For 21 years, the Romanian kayakers and canoeists have not won any Olympic medal. In 2000, Florin Popescu, the current coach of the Olympic canoe team, and Mitică Pricop brought the last gold for Romania, from Sydney, in the mens canoe double 1,000m.

The newest Romanian citizen and member of the Olympic team is Felix Duchampt, an athlete of French origin. Thanks to him, Romania will be represented for the first time at the Olympic Games in the triathlon competition. Duchampt, who received the Romanian citizenship last year, is a member of the Cluj-Napoca Politehnica Sports Club. At the request of the Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee, the Executive Committee of the International Olympic Committee – CIO analyzed and decided last year to grant Duchampt an exemption from Rule 41 of the Olympic Charter, according to which an athlete can represent a country at the Olympic Games after a waiting period of 3 years since the last participation under the colors of another country. The athlete last participated under the colors of France in the triathlon competition within the Miyazaki World Cup stage, on November 10, 2018. Without the exemption obtained from the International Olympic Committee, he could not have been co-opted in the Romanian Olympic team before November 10, 2021. (LS)