Dimitrie Popescu

Dimitrie Popescu in the 1980s

Dimitrie Popescu (born September 10, 1961 in Straja , Suceava County ) is a former Romanian rower who reached the finals six times in four Olympic competitions and won four medals.

Athletic career

The 1.97 m tall Dimitrie Popescu started at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles together with Vasile Tomoiagă and helmsman Dumitru Răducanu in two with helmsman and won the silver medal behind the Italian brothers Carmine and Giuseppe Abbagnale and their helmsman Giuseppe Di Capua . The Italians also won ahead of the Romanians at the 1985 World Championships . In 1986 Popescu and Tomoiagă just missed a medal with their new helmsman Nataniel Lupulesci as fourth. At the 1987 World Championships , Popescu and Tomoiagă competed with Marin Gheorghe as the helmsman and won bronze behind the Italians and the British two.

Popescu, Tomoiagă and the new helmsman Ladislau Lovrenschi competed in two boat classes at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul . In two with a helmsman they took fourth place behind the boats from Italy, the GDR and the United Kingdom. Together with Ioan Șnep and Valentin Robu , they won the silver medal behind the four from the GDR in the four with helmsman . Popescu won his first major title at the 1989 World Championships when he became world champion in a four-man helm with Vasile Năstase , Valentin Robu, Vasile Tomoiagă and Marin Gheorge. At the 1990 World Championships , the Romanian four-man finished sixth with the same crew as in the previous year.

After a year break, Popescu returned to two boat classes at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona . On August 1, Iulică Ruican , Viorel Talapan , Dimitrie Popescu, Nicolae Țaga and helmsman Dumitru Răducanu won in a four, on August 2, Popescu, Țaga and Răducanu won bronze in a two behind the British and the Italians. In the next few years Popescu did not compete internationally, but at the 1996 Olympic Games he finished fifth again with the four-man without a helmsman . At the end of his career, he rowed together with Nicolae Țaga and Dumitru Răducanu in a controlled two-man to second place behind the French at the 1996 World Championships .

Web links

• Dimitrie Popescu in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Dimitrie Popescu at Worldrowing.com ( FISA database )