Vasile Chelaru (13 June 1921 – 1 March 1999) was a Romanian fencer.

Career

Chelaru was born in Șerbești (now

Ștefan cel Mare Stephen III of Moldavia, most commonly known as Stephen the Great ( ro, Ștefan cel Mare; ; died on 2 July 1504), was Voivode (or Prince) of Moldavia from 1457 to 1504. He was the son of and co-ruler with Bogdan II, who was murdered in 1451 ...

) in

Neamț County Neamț County () is a county ( județ) of Romania, in the historic region of Moldavia, with the county seat at Piatra Neamț. The county takes its name from the Neamț River. Demographics Population In 2011, it had a population of 470,76 ...

. He went to military school in 1941, then followed the three-year course of the Military Institute of Physical Education. He became interested in fencing during the course of his studies and graduated in this speciality in 1946. Trained in all three weapons, he competed in individual and team foil, as well as in individual sabre at the

1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics ( fi, Kesäolympialaiset 1952; sv, Olympiska sommarspelen 1952), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad ( fi, XV olympiadin kisat; sv, Den XV olympiadens spel) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952 ( sv, Helsin ...

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

. A year after he won the Romanian national championship in foil. In 1957 he became a coach at Casa Centrală a Armatei, now

CSA Steaua București Clubul Sportiv al Armatei Steaua București, commonly known as CSA Steaua București () or simply Steaua, is a major multi-sports club based in Bucharest and run by the Ministry of National Defence. It is one of the most successful clubs in Roma ...

. He also took responsibility of the national foil teams. Under his guidance, the men's team won Romania's first world title in fencing at the 1967 World Fencing Championships in Montreal,

Ion Drîmbă Ionel Alexandru "Ion" Drîmbă (also Drâmbă, March 18, 1942 – February 20, 2006) was a Romanian fencer. he competed at the 1960, 1964 and 1968 Olympics and won the first ever Olympic gold medal in fencing for Romania in 1968. Biography Dr ...

won the gold medal in foil at the

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1968), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XIX Olimpiada) and commonly known as Mexico 1968 ( es, México 1968), were an international multi-sport eve ...

in Mexico City and the women's team won the world title at the

1969 World Fencing Championships The 1969 World Fencing Championships were held in Havana, Cuba. The event took place from September 30 to October 12, 1969, at the Ciudad Deportiva Coliseum. Overview The Havana World championships were the third straight major fencing event held ...

in Havana. For his accomplishments Chelaru was named "honoured coach" (''antrenor emerit'') in 1968. Chelaru died on 1 March 1999 in Bucharest.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chelaru, Vasile 1921 births 1999 deaths Romanian male fencers Olympic fencers for Romania Fencers at the 1952 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Neamț County