Leon Rotman (born 22 July 1934) is a retired
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 ...
n
sprint canoeist. He won two individual gold medals at the 1956 Olympics and a bronze medal in 1960.
Life and sporting career
Rotman is Jewish,
and was born to a working-class
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
family. He took up several sports in the years immediately after
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
and was fascinated by canoeing after seeing the famous
Czech
Czech may refer to:
* Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe
** Czech language
** Czechs, the people of the area
** Czech culture
** Czech cuisine
* One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus'
Places
* Czech, ...
champions
Jan Brzák-Felix
Jan Brzák-Felix (6 April 1912 – 15 July 1988) was a Czechoslovak slalom and sprint canoeist from Prague who competed from the mid-1930s to the early 1950s. Competing in three Summer Olympics, he won three medals in the C-2 1000 m event wi ...
and
Bohumil Kudrna compete on
Lake Snagov
Snagov (Romanian: ''Lacul Snagov'') is a lake in Snagov commune, about north of Bucharest, Romania. It has a surface of only , but due to its elongated shape it stretches for about , northeast to southwest.
Lake Snagov as well as the nearby Snag ...
near Bucharest in 1953. He joined the Dinamo Bucharest sports club, in the hope of getting one of the Czech-made canoes left by the two in Romania. He did not, but he was remarked by famous coach Radu Huţan after becoming national champion in improvised canoes.
He would eventually compete at the Olympics on the first canoe ever made in Romania (at the factories in
Reghin
Reghin (; hu, Szászrégen, or ; german: (Sächsisch) Regen) is a city in Mureș County, Transylvania, central Romania, on the Mureș River. As of 2011, it had a population of 33,281.Rezultatele finale ale Recensământului din 2011:
Locat ...
,
Mureș County
Mureș County (, ro, Județul Mures, hu, Maros megye) is a county (''județ'') of Romania, in the historical region of Transylvania, with the administrative centre in Târgu Mureș. The county was established in 1968, after the administrative ...
). At the
1956 Summer Olympic Games
The 1956 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVI Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, from 22 November to 8 December 1956, with the exception of the equestrian events, whi ...
in
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
, despite having a sprained ankle, Rotman won both the C-1 1000 m and 10000 m events, equaling
Swede Gert Fredriksson's performance who, at the same Olympics, won gold in both individual
kayak events. He was the first Romanian to win two medals in one Olympics.
At the next Olympics he won a bronze in the C-1 1000 m event.
He was slightly less successful in other competitions (fifth in the 1957 and 1961 European Championships in C-1 1000 m, and seventh at the
1963 World Championships in C-1 10000 m). He won, however, the Snagov Regatta seven times and 14 national titles before retiring in 1963.
After retiring from competitions Rotman worked as a canoeing coach in Bucharest.
[
]
See also
* List of select Jewish canoeists
References
External links
1956 Canoe/Kayak Flatwater medalists on the IOC websiteRomanian Canoe and Kayak olympic medalists' biographies on the Romanian Olympic Foundation website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rotman, Leon
1934 births
Living people
Sportspeople from Bucharest
Jewish Romanian sportspeople
Romanian male canoeists
Canoeists at the 1956 Summer Olympics
Canoeists at the 1960 Summer Olympics
Olympic canoeists of Romania
Olympic gold medalists for Romania
Olympic bronze medalists for Romania
Olympic medalists in canoeing
Medalists at the 1960 Summer Olympics
Medalists at the 1956 Summer Olympics