Constantin Popovici (born 2 October 1988) is a Romanian platform diver. In 2019, he became the first Romanian to achieve a first-place finish at a stop of the

Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series The Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series, established in 2009 and created by Red Bull, is an annual international series of cliff diving events in which a limited number of competitors determine the Cliff Diving World Series winner. Divers j ...

. He is the 2022 European champion in the 27 metre high dive. He has won multiple medals as part of the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series and he won the bronze medal in the 27 metre high dive event at the Abu Dhabi Aquatics Festival in 2021. For the 10 metre platform event at the 2008 Summer Olympics, he placed twenty-third overall.

Background

Popovici is a member of CSA Steaua Bucuresti Diving Club and is coached and trained by Avasiloaie Florin.

Career

2008: Olympic debut

Popovici represented

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

at the 2008 Summer Olympics in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

, where he competed for the 10 metre platform event. He placed twenty-third out of thirty divers in the preliminary round, with a total score of 392.30, after six successive attempts.

2019

As part of the 2019 Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series, Popovici won the gold medal at the stop held in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

in May, marking the first time in the history of the

that a Romanian achieved a first-place finish.Strobl, Katrin (21 October 2020)
"Iffland stretches winning streak as Popovici takes maiden victory"
'' Red Bull''. Retrieved 19 July 2022.

2021–2022

In the third round of competition of the 2021 Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series stop held in County Mayo,

in September, Popovici earned four tens and won the silver medal, finishing ahead of bronze medalist

Alessandro De Rose Alessandro De Rose (born July 2, 1992) is an Italian high diver. De Rose was born in Cosenza, Italy. He competed for Italy at the 2015 World Aquatics Championships in Kazan. On 23 July 2017 De Rose won the men's title at Italian stop of the R ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

and behind

Gary Hunt Gary Hunt (born 11 June 1984), also known as Roger Gary Hunt, is an elite sports diver, specialising in cliff or high diving, and is the 2019 World champion in high diving at World Aquatics Championships event, where he holds the championship ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

.Heaney, Steven (12 September 2021)
"Multiple new records set at cliff diving World Series in Mayo"
'' Irish Examiner''. Retrieved 16 July 2022. On the first day of high diving competition at the Abu Dhabi Aquatics Festival, held in December 2021 in Abu Dhabi,

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia ( The Middle East). It is located at t ...

, he was leading in the 27 metre event with a score of 210.60 points."Popovici leads stellar men's High Diving field during day one action at the FINA Aquatics Festival"
''

FINA FINA (french: Fédération internationale de natation, en, International Swimming Federation, link=yes) (to be renamed as World Aquatics by ) is the international federation recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for administer ...

''. 19 December 2021. Retrieved 14 July 2022. The second and final day, he won the bronze medal in the event, achieving a mark of 432.00 points and scoring just 4.90 points behind gold medalist in the event

Aidan Heslop Aidan Heslop (born 18 April 2002) is a British diver and high diver who competes internationally representing Wales and Great Britain. At the 2018 Commonwealth Games he competed representing Wales, finishing 6th in the 10 metre platform and ...

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

(20 December 2021)
"FINA High Diving Qualifier 2021 Abu Dhabi (UAE): Men's High Dive Round 4 Detailed Results"
''

Omega Timing Omega SA is a Swiss luxury watchmaker based in Biel/Bienne, Switzerland. Founded by Louis Brandt in La Chaux-de-Fonds in 1848, the company formerly operated as ''La Generale Watch Co.'' until incorporating the name ''Omega'' in 1903, becoming ' ...

''. Retrieved 14 July 2022. At the stop of the 2022 Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series held in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, France in June, Popovici won the bronze medal with a score of 432.90 points, rounding out the podium with gold medalist

Cătălin Preda Cătălin-Petru Preda (born 29 June 1991) is a Romanian diver and high diver. He was the first man to win a silver medal in a high diving event at a LEN European Aquatics Championships, winning the silver medal in the 27-metre high dive at th ...

, also of Romania, and Gary Hunt of France.Mădălina, Nănuț (19 June 2022)
"Românii au luat cu asalt podiumul la etapa a doua a Red Bull Cliff Diving"
(in Romanian). ''007sport.ro''. Retrieved 15 July 2022. The following month, he placed 21st in the 10 metre platform event at the

2022 World Aquatics Championships The 2022 World Aquatics Championships, the 19th edition of the FINA World Aquatics Championships, were held in Budapest, Hungary, from 17 June to 3 July 2022. In March 2022, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, FINA banned both the Russian an ...

, held at

Danube Arena The Danube Arena (in Hungarian: ''Duna Aréna'', unofficially ''Dagály Budapest Aquatics Complex'') is an aquatics complex located in Budapest, Hungary. It was designed by Marcell Ferenc and built between 2015 and 2017. Design and construction O ...

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

, with a score of 345.10 points.

(2 July 2022)
"19th FINA World Championships Budapest (HUN): Men's 10m Platform Preliminary Detailed Results"
''

''. Retrieved 16 July 2022. Later in the month, at the stop of the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series held in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

, he won his first gold medal of the 2022 World Series, scoring 426.10 points to finish over 25 points ahead of silver medalist Cătălin Preda and over 30 points ahead of bronze medalist Nikita Fedotov.Herrán, Alfonso (19 July 2022)
"Iffland y Popovici encabezan el Cliff Diving en Copenhague"
(in Spanish). ''

Diario AS ''Diario AS'' () is a Spanish daily sports newspaper that concentrates particularly on football. Profile ''Diario AS'' is part of PRISA which also owns '' El País'' and ''Cinco Días''. The paper particularly covers news of the Community of M ...

''. Retrieved 19 July 2022.

2022 European Aquatics Championships

Popovici entered to compete in the 27 metre high dive at the

2022 European Aquatics Championships The 2022 European Aquatics Championships took place in Rome, Italy, from 11 to 21 August 2022. The event exactly coincided with, but was not officially part of, the 2022 European Championships. This diverged from the joined format of the 2018 ...

, held in August in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, with the second dive in his dive order ranking as the highest

degree of difficulty Degree of difficulty (DD, sometimes called tariff or grade) is a concept used in several sports and other competitions to indicate the technical difficulty of a skill, performance, or course, often as a factor in scoring. Sports which incorporate ...

dive of all entrants at a 5.8 degree of difficulty. LEN (18 August 2022)
"European Aquatics Championships Roma 2022: Dive Order Men's High Diving"
''Microplus''. Retrieved 18 August 2022. His first dive, on 18 August with a 2.8 degree of difficulty, scored 75.60 points, which tied him in rank for third with the Italians Andrea Barnaba and

. LEN (18 August 2022)
"European Aquatics Championships Roma 2022: Results After Dive 1 Men's High Diving"
''Microplus''. Retrieved 18 August 2022.Primavera, Erika (18 August 2022)
"A Roma scattano i tuffi dalle grandi altezze, azzurri a caccia di medaglie agli Europei"
(in Italian). ''dire.it''. Retrieved 18 August 2022. For his second of the three dives on the dive order, and leading up to one optional dive not on the dive order, he brought his total score across the first two dives up to 206.10 points and ranked fourth.Tiseo, Giandomenico (19 August 2022)
"LIVE Tuffi grandi altezze, Europei 2022 in DIRETTA: Elisa Cosetti di BRONZO! Sesto Alessandro De Rose dopo due rotazioni"
(in Italian). ''OA Sport''. Retrieved 19 August 2022. By the end of competition, he had amassed 455.70 points across all four dives, winning the gold medal 19.50 points ahead of fellow Romanian Cătălin Preda. LEN (20 August 2022)
"European Aquatics Championships Roma 2022: Results Men's High Diving Final"
''Microplus''. Retrieved 20 August 2022.Pérez, Marta (20 August 2022)

(in Spanish). '' Mundo Deportivo''. Retrieved 20 August 2022."Constantin Popovici şi Cătălin Preda au obţinut aur şi argint în proba de sărituri de la mare înălţime, la Europenele de la Roma"
(in Romanian). '' Digi Sport''. 20 August 2022. Retrieved 20 August 2022."AUR și ARGINT pentru România în proba de sǎrituri de la înǎlțime de la Campionatul European din Roma!"
(in Romanian). '' Gazeta Sporturilor''. 20 August 2022. Retrieved 20 August 2022."Vizes Eb, műugrás: román dupla férfi óriás-toronyugrásban"
(in Hungarian). ''

Nemzeti Sport ''Nemzeti Sport'' (the title means "National Sport") is a Hungarian sports daily. History and profile ''Nemzeti Sport'' was founded in 1903. The paper is owned by Ringier of Switzerland. It is frequently cited by quality English-language media The ...

''. 20 August 2022. Retrieved 20 August 2022. One week later, Popovici won the stop of the 2022 Cliff Diving World Series held in

Mostar , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = Mostar (collage image).jpg , image_caption = From top, left to right: A panoramic view of the heritage town site and the Neretva river from Lučki Bridge, Koski Mehmed Pasha ...

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...

, with a score of 481.50 points, which set a new record for the highest score ever achieve at a single Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series stop."Record du Romain Constantin Popovici en plongeon extrême à Mostar, Gary Hunt 4e"
(in French). ''

L'Équipe ''L'Équipe'' (, French for "the team") is a French nationwide daily newspaper devoted to sport, owned by Éditions Philippe Amaury. The paper is noted for coverage of association football, rugby, motorsport, and cycling. Its predecessor w ...

''. 28 August 2022. Retrieved 28 August 2022.

International championships

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Popovici, Constantin Romanian male divers Living people Olympic divers for Romania Divers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Bucharest 1988 births Male high divers 20th-century Romanian people 21st-century Romanian people European Games competitors for Romania Divers at the 2023 European Games World Aquatics Championships medalists in high diving