Athlete of the week
Florin Orban, 30.03.2021, 12:14
Epee fencer Ana Maria
Popescu walked home with gold in the 2016 of the Rio Olympics in the nations’
competition. In the wake of that most remarkable feat, Ana Maria Popescu has
become the 60th athlete to have qualified for the Tokyo Olympics.
The Romanian Fencing Federation and the Olympic and Sports Committee some time
ago have jointly made the announcement. Ana Maria has bought her ticket for
Tokyo since she came at the top of the table according to the epee world
rankings. Reason enough for Radio Romania International to designate Ana-Maria
Popescu the Athlete of the week. Swimming, athletics, rowing, football,
artistic gymnastics, three on three basketball, cycling, wrestling, shooting
sports, kayak-canoe, table tennis and fencing. These are the thirteen sports
disciplines for which the Romanian athletes have qualified as part of the Tokyo
Olympics.
Ana-Maria Popescu stands the
highest chances to winning a medal in the fencing events as part of the Tokyo Olympics.
Nee Ana-Maria Branza, the award-winning epee fencer was born on November 26,
1984 in Bucharest. She first compelled international recognition in 2001, when, in Poland, she was at the top of the table in the World Cadets’ Championships.
In 2002 Ana Maria Popescu won the world title in the World Juniors’ Championships held in Turkey. It was a special year, 2002, for Ana-Maria Popescu, since her
remarkable feat in the Juniors’ Championships in Turkey was followed by the
bronze medal she won in the World Seniors’ Championships in Lisbon. In the Athens Olympics in
2004 all hopes were pinned on Ana-Maria Popescu’s performance, yet she came in
16th, unfortunately. However, Ana-Maria came from behind and in 2008 at
the Beijing Olympics she walked away with silver. Ana-Maria Popescu’s
career-best occurred at the 2016 edition of the Olympics Games in Rio, when
Ana-Maria won the gold medal with Romania’s epee team.
