Ion Oncescu (born April 25, 1978 in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

) is a professional

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language *** Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language ** Romanian cuisine, tradition ...

armwrestler, a multiple time world and European champion for both the left and the right hand. He was inducted in March 2011 in the World's Hall of Fame "The 50 Greatest Armwrestlers In History".

Biography

In his youth at the age of 12 he made plans to run out of Communist Romania and started an intensive training program that included daily

jogging Jogging is a form of trotting or running at a slow or leisurely pace. The main intention is to increase physical fitness with less stress on the body than from faster running but more than walking, or to maintain a steady speed for longer periods ...

and

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

so that he could be ready, by the age of 17, for any obstacle that could emerge during his intended flight from the country. His first contact with sports took place at FC Dinamo București where he played football at a youth level, but he soon found

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

more interesting and started to train under the guidance of

Florin Segărceanu Florin Segărceanu (born 29 March 1961) is a former tennis player from Romania. When John McEnroe won Wimbledon in 1983, Segărceanu was the only player to take a set off McEnroe throughout the entire championship when he won the first set of ...

. Ion Oncescu won his first national arm wrestling title when he was 18 years old and since then has been undisputed champion despite starting specific

arm wrestling Arm wrestling (also spelled armwrestling) is a sport with two opponents who face each other with their bent elbows placed on a table and hands firmly gripped, who then attempt to force the opponent's hand down to the table top ("pin" them). The s ...

training in 2005, nine years after his debut. He graduated the Journalism faculty and the

Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies The Bucharest University of Economic Studies ( ro, Academia de Studii Economice din București, abbreviated ''ASE'') is a public university in Bucharest, Romania. Founded in 1913 as the ''Academy of Higher-level Commercial and Industrial Studies'' ...

International Business and

Economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analyzes ...

profile. He became a first time

world champion 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, ...

at the XXIXth World Armwrestling Championships held in

Veliko Tarnovo Veliko Tarnovo ( bg, Велико Търново, Veliko Tărnovo, ; "Great Tarnovo") is a town in north central Bulgaria and the administrative centre of Veliko Tarnovo Province. Often referred as the "''City of the Tsars''", Veliko Tarnovo ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

in October 2007. For the

left arm This is a general glossary of the terminology used in the sport of cricket. Where words in a sentence are also defined elsewhere in this article, they appear in italics. Certain aspects of cricket terminology are explained in more detail in cr ...

Oncescu had to engage in 10 matches, and of his opponents five of them were past

s. In the second round he surprisingly lost against the

n champion Stoyan Golemanov, but recovered and reached the final against

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

n Dzambolat Tsoriev, who was undefeated at that time. Ion Oncescu won 2–0 and became

for the first time in his career. The next day he had to compete for the

right arm This is a general glossary of the terminology used in the sport of cricket. Where words in a sentence are also defined elsewhere in this article, they appear in italics. Certain aspects of cricket terminology are explained in more detail in cr ...

championship, and was engaged in eight matches and reached the final where he met the same Dzambolat Tsoriev. Oncescu lost the first match but won the other two and became

for the

and for the whole tournament world undisputed champion, receiving US$23,000 in prize money. Ion Oncescu won his third and fourth

world title 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, ...

at the World Armwrestling Championships held in Kelowna,

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. He had to engage in 20 matches, 10 for the

and 10 for the

on his way to his two world titles. In 2009 shot down 100 opponents. In 2010 shot down 300 opponents. On 20 February 2011 event "Oncescu vs. 500" at

Băneasa Shopping City Băneasa Shopping City is a shopping center in the north of Bucharest, Romania, opened on 18 April 2008. Located in the Băneasa neighborhood of Sector 1, it is part of the Băneasa Developments owned by convicted crimimaAurel and Radu Timofte. ...

and live on Sport.ro shot down 500 opponents (including: K-1 fighter Tolea Ciumac;

weightlifting Weightlifting generally refers to activities in which people lift weights, often in the form of dumbbells or barbells. People lift various kinds of weights for a variety of different reasons. These may include various types of competition; promo ...

champion

Ninel Miculescu Ninel Miculescu (born May 15, 1985) is a Romanian weightlifting champion. He is the European champion of the 69 kg category in 2010. In late 2011 the International Weightlifting Federation The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF ...

; professional basketball player

Virgil Stănescu Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: th ...

;

darts Darts or dart-throwing is a competitive sport in which two or more players bare-handedly throw small sharp-pointed missiles known as darts at a round target known as a dartboard. Points can be scored by hitting specific marked areas of the bo ...

bodybuilding Bodybuilding is the use of progressive resistance exercise to control and develop one's muscles (muscle building) by muscle hypertrophy for aesthetic purposes. It is distinct from similar activities such as powerlifting because it focuses ...

and shot put national champion Daniel Racoveanu). On February 12, 2012 at Sun Plaza Bucharest, after a contest of almost 8 hours with 1000 opponents, Oncescu set a new World Record, which was certified by Guinness World Records representative, beating all the 1000 participants (even 1024 until stop contest). The show was televised live on sport.ro TV channel.

World and European arm wrestling championships

References

External links

Profile at worldofarmwrestling.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oncescu, Ion 1978 births Romanian arm wrestlers Living people Sportspeople from Bucharest