Florin Popescu (born 30 August 1974 in

Iancu Jianu Iancu Jianu (; 1787 – 14 December 1842), also Ioniță Jianu, was a Wallachian Romanian hajduk. Biography Born in Caracal, Oltenia, Wallachia, in 1787, to the Jianu boyar family, as the youngest of four brothers. His father, Costache Jianu, wa ...

Olt Olt or OLT may refer to: People: * Károly Olt (1904–1985), Hungarian politician * Mike Olt (born 1988), American baseball player Places: * Olt County, a county (județ) of Romania * Olt (river), a river in Romania ** Olt Defile, a defile that ...

) is a

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

n sprint canoer who competed from the mid-1990s to 2005. Competing in two

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

, he won two Olympic medals at

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

with teammate

Mitică Pricop Mitică Pricop (born 25 October 1977 in Constanţa) is a Romanian sprint canoer who competed from the late 1990s to 2004. Competing in two Summer Olympics, he won two medals at Sydney in 2000 with a gold in the C-2 1000 m and a bronze in the ...

(gold: C-2 1000 m, bronze: C-2 500 m). He won a total of seven

world championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

gold medals (and nineteen total) as well as seven European championship golds, making him the most successful Romanian paddler of modern times. Injury forced Popescu to retire at the end of the 2005 season after winning his seventh world title (C-4 500 m) at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

, Croatia. Popescu is 183 cm (6'0") tall and raced at 79 kg (174 lbs). He lists his interests as

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

motor racing Motorsport, motorsports or motor sport is a global term used to encompass the group of competitive sporting events which primarily involve the use of motorized vehicles. The terminology can also be used to describe forms of competition of two ...

and

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

. He was voted Romanian Sportsman of the Year in 1993.

References

* *

External links

* * 1974 births Living people Sportspeople from Olt County Canoeists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Canoeists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic canoeists for Romania Olympic gold medalists for Romania Olympic bronze medalists for Romania Romanian male canoeists Olympic medalists in canoeing ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships medalists in Canadian Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics {{Romania-Olympic-medalist-stub