07 Dec 2011
Honours, Reunion and Rowing Romanian Style
Elisabeta Lipa awarded Romanian Rower of the Century
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Rowing recently had its day in Romania. Earlier this month a veritable who's who of Romania's rowing elite came together to celebrate the sport and honour those who have worked for its success at the Romanian Rowing Day in Snagov.
The day was originally planned to revive community spirit and grew into a reunion, awards ceremony, folklore show and regatta. Ivana Iancu, PR expert for the Romanian Olympic Committee said the reunion was very emotional. ?Some of the former champions hadn't seen each other for more than 20 years.? They were joined by their families many of whom are part of more than one generation of rowing and speeches described the spirit of the rowing family.
Awards were presented to coaches and personalities of Romanian rowing including the first Olympic gold medallist in rowing, Sanda Toma who won the single in 1980 and finished her career undefeated. Elisabeta Lipa was honoured for her exceptional career and named woman rower of the century. She described rowing as being everything about her life. ?I exist and I breathe through rowing,? said Lipa. ?The rhythm of my existence is in deep accordance with the great sporting events, the World Championships and Olympic Games.? Honours also went to Petru Iosub and Toma Valer ? the first male Olympic champions for Romania. Iosub and Valer won the pair at Los Angeles in 1984.
Festivities at Romanian Rowing Day
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Celebrations took place on the shores of Snagov Lake near Bucharest where the national team currently train. Snagov also hosts the annual national rowing championships and has done so for over 50 years. This is part of a rowing tradition that goes back to 1864 when a group of students returned to Romania after studying abroad and brought the sport to Timisoara in western Romania. Rowing began as a recreational sport and it was not until 1923 that the first national rowing championships came about. After the Second World War the national championships became an annual event and in 1970 Romania won its first gold medal at the World Championships.
Romanian rowing continued to gain in strength and from the early 1980's Olympic medals began to proliferate. Los Angeles, 1984 became their most successful year ? six gold and two silver medals ? and medals have stacked up at each Olympic Games since. At the Sydney Olympics Romania picked up three gold medals.
Romania goes to the World Championships in Milan with entries in eleven events including honoured athlete, Elisabeta Lipa who is making a post-2000 Olympic comeback. Lipa says her comeback is to strive for a personal record, to participate in six Olympic Games and win a fifth Olympic gold. But she admits it comes with sacrifice. ?The isolation during training camps and my son grows up without having me near,? says Lipa. She will race in the eight and at 38 years old she goes into the championships as one of the oldest competitors. Also in the eight are Georgeta Andrunache and Viorica Susanu who won gold in the event at the last Olympics and since then have held the World Champion spot in the pair. They will race in both events at Milan. Andrunache's accomplishments don't stop there. She pulled off double gold in Sydney winning the pair with partner Doina Ignat who also won in the eight. Ignat is back in the eight at Milan after taking a break last year.