Olympic Update

The latest from rowing, gymnastics and water polo

Eugen Nasta, 31.07.2024, 13:45

Three Romanian rowing crews on Tuesday qualified to the finals of the Olympic Games in Paris. In lightweight women’s pair defending Olympic champions Ancuţa Bodnar and Simona Radiş won the second semi-finals and secured a nail-biting position in the finals.

After three quarters of the race Bodnar and Radis were fourth placed, but their finish was extraordinary. Andrei Cornea and Marian Enache qualified to the men’s pair final, having come in 3rd in the first semi-final. The men’s quadruple sculls crew made of Ştefan Berariu, Sergiu Bejan, Andrei Mândrilă and Ciprian Tudosă secured their position in the finals, having come in 2nd in the repechage.

Also qualifying to the final were women’s coxless quadruple sculls and the coxed eight crews.

Romania’s women’s gymnastics team came in 7th in the nations’ competition final held on Tuesday. The winner was the team of the United States, followed by Italy and Brazil. For the Romanians, it was the first Olympic final since 2012 when, at the London Olympics, the team stepped onto the third step of the podium. Stepping out of the line in the Romanian team was Ana Barbosu who got 13.933 points in the vault event. Also, Sabrina Voinea got 13.900 points in the floor event and 13.800 points in the beam event.

Romania’s national water polo team has also lost its second game as part of the Olympics, On Tuesday Romania sustained a 8-14 defeat by the United States. Romania’s scorers were Vlad Georgescu and Silvian Colodrovschi, with three goals each, and Andrei Neamţu and Matei Luţescu. Bogdan Rath’s trainees had a bracing start, leading in the first half, 1-nil, 2-1 and 3-2. Yet the US were quick to level the score. Then a dismal period followed, with Romania receiving seven goals in a row and the scoreboard displaying a 9-3 advantage for the United States, from a meagre 3-2 advantage for Romania. The Americans succeeded to maintain their six-goal advantage to the end, although the game became more balanced. We recall Romania previously sustained a 7-14 defeat by vice-Olympic champions Greece.