Mihai Claudiu Covaliu (born 5 November 1977 in

Brașov Brașov (, , ; german: Kronstadt; hu, Brassó; la, Corona; Transylvanian Saxon: ''Kruhnen'') is a city in Transylvania, Romania and the administrative centre of Brașov County. According to the latest Romanian census (2011), Brașov has a popu ...

) 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 retired sabre fencer, Olympic champion in 2000 and world champion in 2005, and coach of the Romanian men's sabre team. He is also ex-president of the

Romanian Fencing Federation The Romanian Fencing Federation ( ro, Federația Română de Scrimă) is the governing body for the sport of fencing in Romania. Affiliated to the Federation Internationale d'Escrime since 1914, it is a member of the European Fencing Confederation ...

and, from 2016, president of the Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee.

Personal life

Covaliu's first sport was football. He began fencing at age nine, after coaches from CS Tractorul Brașov presented the sport to his school. His mother encouraged him to persevere despite the harsh training methods used at the time. In 1998 he joined the BNR Bucharest, a club supported by the

National Bank of Romania The National Bank of Romania ( ro, Banca Națională a României, BNR) is the central bank of Romania and was established in April 1880. Its headquarters are located in the capital city of Bucharest. The National Bank of Romania is responsible ...

, before transferring to

CS Dinamo București CS Dinamo București is a Romanian sports society based 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 which he is still a member as of 2014. Covaliu married in 2001

Irina Draghici Irina ( Cyrillic: Ирина) is a feminine given name of Ancient Greek origin, commonly borne by followers of the Eastern Orthodox Church. It is derived from Eirene (Ancient Greek: Εἰρήνη), an ancient Greek goddess, personification of p ...

, a member of the women's national sabre team. They have two children. He graduated in physical education from the

Alexandru Ioan Cuza University The Alexandru Ioan Cuza University (Romanian: ''Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza"''; acronym: UAIC) is a public university located in Iași, Romania. Founded by an 1860 decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza, under whom the former Academia Mih ...

Iași Iași ( , , ; also known by other alternative names), also referred to mostly historically as Jassy ( , ), is the second largest city in Romania and the seat of Iași County. Located in the historical region of Moldavia, it has traditionally ...

and holds a master's degree in sport management.

Career

Dolniceanu v Boyko Fencing WCH SMS-IN t145524

Covaliu underwent at CS Tractorul intensive training at the hand of several coaches and technicians, amongst which Mihai Ticușan, Gabriel Duția,

Alexandru Chiculiță Alexandru Chiculiță (born 3 February 1961) is a retired Romanian sabre fencer. He competed at the 1984 and 1992 Olympics and won a team bronze medal in 1984. After retiring from competitions he worked as a fencing coach, and currently trains t ...

, Mihai Orița, Nicolae Dinu and Emilian Nuță. In 2000 at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

he created a surprise by reaching the final, beating medal prospect

Damien Touya Damien Touya (born 23 April 1975) is a French fencer. He won medals at three Olympics. He won a gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the ...

of France along the way. Covaliu then disposed of Mathieu Gourdain 15–12 to earn the first Romanian gold medal in sabre and become number one in FIE rankings. For this performance he was named Master Emeritus in sport and commander of the

Order For Merit The Order of Merit (french: link=no, Ordre du Mérite) is an order of merit for the Commonwealth realms, recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or for the promotion of culture. Established in 1902 by ...

. At the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

, Covaliu was eliminated 15–14 in quarter-finals by

Zsolt Nemcsik Zsolt Nemcsik (born 15 August 1977 in Budapest) is a Hungarian sabre fencer. He competed at three Olympic Games. Nemcsik's two greatest accomplishments is winning the silver medal in the 2004 Olympic Games after losing to Aldo Montano in th ...

of Hungary, who eventually took the silver medal. Covaliu ended up number seven in the event. 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, ...

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

the year after, he made his way comfortably to the final, which he won 15–12 against three-time Olympic champion

Stanislav Pozdnyakov Stanislav Alekseyevich Pozdnyakov ( rus, Станислав Алексеевич Поздняков, , stənʲɪˈslaf pəzʲnʲɪˈkof; born 27 September 1973) is a Russian former fencer, a five-time Olympian (1992–2008) and five-time Olympi ...

of Russia. He was noted for his "enthusiasm, physical shape, virtuoso technique, simple fencing". He dedicated his medal to his son Vlad, born a day before the departure for Leipzig. At the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

Covaliu reached easily the quarter-finals. He had a tight 15–13 win against

Aliaksandr Buikevich Aliaksandr Mikalayevich Buikevich ( be, Аляксандар Мікалаевіч Буйкевіч, russian: Александр микалаевич Буйкевич; born 19 November 1984) is a Belarusian sabre (fencing), sabre fencer, European ...

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

, then met Nicolas Lopez of France. Despite having always beaten Lopez before, Covaliu was defeated 15–13 after leading 11–7 in the last period of the bout. He then met another Frenchman,

Julien Pillet Julien Pillet (born 28 September 1977 in Dijon, Côte-d'Or) is a French sabre fencer. He is a three-time Olympic medalist as he won the gold in the team event at the 2004 Summer Olympics and also at the 2008 Summer Olympics. He also won the ...

, and won 15–11 to earn the bronze medal. After Beijing Covaliu retired to become the head coach of the Romanian sabre team. Under his training, Romania won the silver medal in the 2009 European Championships at

Plovdiv Plovdiv ( bg, Пловдив, ), is the second-largest city in Bulgaria, standing on the banks of the Maritsa river in the historical region of Thrace. It has a population of 346,893 and 675,000 in the greater metropolitan area. Plovdiv is the c ...

, then the gold medal at the

Antalya Antalya () is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, fifth-most populous city in Turkey as well as the capital of Antalya Province. Located on Anatolia's southwest coast bordered by the Taurus Mountains, Antalya is the largest Turkish cit ...

Rareș Dumitrescu Rareș Dumitrescu (; born 24 December 1983 in Brașov) is a Romanian sabre fencer, World silver medal in 2009. With the Romanian team he was European champion in 2006, World champion in 2009 and Olympic team silver medal in 2012. Personal life ...

taking the silver in the individual event. For this performance, Covaliu was made a knight in the

Order of Faithful Service The National Order of Faithful Service ( ro, Ordinul Național "Serviciul Credincios") is the second highest national order of Romania, with the Order of the Star of Romania being the highest national order. Originally it was established as the Me ...

. Cosmin Hănceanu and Romania earned the silver at the

2010 World Fencing Championships The 2010 World Fencing Championships were held at the Grand Palais in Paris, France 4–13 November. Medal table Men's events Women's events Participating nations A record of 110 nations competed, with many making their debuts including ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and 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), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, and Romania finished second in the

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. Covaliu was afterwards promoted to the rank of officer of the Order of Faithful Service. In April 2013, Covaliu was elected president of the

after incumbent Ana Pascu decided to not to run again. He remained the coach of the men's sabre team, who earned the silver at the

2013 World Fencing Championships The 2013 World Fencing Championships were held at Budapest, Hungary from 5–12 August. Schedule Medal summary Medal table Men's events Women's events Participating nations 827 fencers from 101 countries competed. * (1) * (13) * ( ...

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 ...

Tiberiu Dolniceanu Tiberiu Dolniceanu (; born 3 April 1988) is a Romanian sabre fencer, European champion in 2013 and bronze medal in the 2013 World championships. As part of Romania's sabre team, he won the team silver medal in the 2012 Summer Olympics and the ...

finishing at the third place in the individual event. The same year, Covaliu was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the

International Fencing Federation International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

References

Links

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Mihai Covaliu's statistics
on Nahouw.net {{DEFAULTSORT:Covaliu, Mihai 1977 births Living people Romanian male fencers Romanian sabre fencers Olympic gold medalists for Romania Olympic bronze medalists for Romania Fencers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Fencers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Fencers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Fencers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic fencers of Romania Olympic medalists in fencing Sportspeople from Brașov Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Romanian fencing coaches Presidents of the Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee Presidents of the Romanian Fencing Federation