Valeriu Calancea

Valeriu Calancea
Nationality:	Romania
Date of birth:	November 18, 1980
Place of birth:	Chișinău , Soviet Union
Size:	173 cm
Medal table

Valeriu Calancea (born November 18, 1980 in Chișinău , Moldovan SSR , Soviet Union ) is a former Romanian weightlifter . He started in the 85 kg class and later in the 94 kg class.

Career

Valeriu Calancea was born in Moldova where he started lifting weights. In 1999 he moved to Romania, where he joined the CSM Dunărea Galați association . In the same year he became a Romanian citizen after proving that his grandfather was a Romanian. On August 11, 2000, the National Olympic Committee of Romania approved his participation in the Olympic Games in Sydney to. There he finished 10th in a duel with 365 kg and set a new junior world record in pushing with 205 kg. A month later, Calancea won three medals at the European Junior Championships in Rijeka: silver in pushing, as well as bronze in snatch and duel.

In 2002 he was able to win the bronze medal in pushing both at the European Championships in Antalya and at the World Championships in Warsaw .

Quite surprisingly, Calancea won two gold medals at the 2003 World Championships in Vancouver . Despite an eighth place in the snatch with a lifted 167.5 kg, he managed the overall victory with 382.5 kg after he was able to achieve the title in the jerk with 215 kg.

At the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens , he had to retire due to an elbow injury. A year later, at the European Championships in Sofia, he won gold in pushing with 205 kg and silver in a duel with 367 kg, although he was only sixth in snatch with 162. His participation in the 2007 European Championships in Strasbourg was even more successful , where Calancea was able to defend the pushing title with 208 kg and also won the title in a duel with 373 kg after a bronze medal in snatching with 165 kg.

However, five months later he was convicted of doping at the 2007 World Weightlifting Championships and banned for two years. After his return, Calancea rose to the weight class up to 94 kg and won bronze in the pushing at the 2009 World Championships . A year later he won the pushing title and bronze in a duel at the World Championships in Antalya . In 2011 he could not repeat his success and only came in 18th place in the snatch, while he had three invalid attempts in the push at 212 kg. In March 2012, Calancea ended his active career for health reasons.

Others

Valeriu Calancea is the older brother of the Moldovan soccer goalkeeper Nicolae Calancea (* 1986).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Weightlifting World Championship with twelve doping cases (accessed on May 31, 2009)
2. ↑ ProSport of November 12, 2011 , accessed on March 16, 2014 (Romanian)
3. ↑ ProSport of March 30, 2012 , accessed on March 16, 2014 (Romanian)

Web links

• Valeriu Calancea in the database of Sports-Reference (English; archived from the original )
• Valeriu Calancea at the Institute for Applied Training Science