Cristian Gațu (born 20 August 1945) is a retired

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor 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 thr ...

player. He earned 212 caps with the national team, winning the world title in 1970 and 1974 and medalling at the 1972 and 1976 Olympics. After retiring from competitions he became a coach and sports official, appointed as Secretary of State for Youth and Sports in 1991–1993 and President of the Romanian Handball Federation in 1997–2014.

Biography

Gațu, an ethnic Aromanian, was born to renowned sports journalist Petre Gațu. In his early years he studied civil engineering in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

and competed nationally in chess,

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

and handball, eventually choosing handball for his career. With Steaua București, he won ten national titles and the 1977

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by top-division European clubs. The competition begins with a round robi ...

. He retired after spending two seasons in Italy with Tuscany Follonica in the 1980s, both as a player and a coach. In 1983, he returned to Romania, where he first worked as an instructor of water sports, but later moved from coaching to administration. Between 1984 and 1991 he was vice president of Steaua București, and in 1991–1993 served as Secretary of State for Youth and Sports. In 1993–1997, he headed a military physical education faculty, in 1997–1998 was appointed as president of Steaua București, and in 1996–2002 served as vice president of the Romanian Olympic Committee. In parallel he headed the Romanian Handball Federation between 1997 and 2014. On 14 September 2007, he was promoted to the military rank of brigadier general.

Honours

* World Champion 1970 and 1974 with

. *

EHF Champions League The EHF Champions League is the most important club handball competition for men's teams in Europe and involves the leading teams from the top European nations. The competition is organised every year by EHF. The official name for the men's com ...

1977 with Steaua Bucharest. * IHF Gold Badge of Merit: 2009

References

External links

* * * Handball players from Bucharest Aromanian sportspeople Romanian people of Aromanian descent Olympic medalists in handball Handball players at the 1972 Summer Olympics Handball players at the 1976 Summer Olympics Olympic handball players for Romania Romanian male handball players Olympic silver medalists for Romania Olympic bronze medalists for Romania CSA Steaua București (handball) players FCSB presidents 1945 births Living people Medalists at the 1976 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1972 Summer Olympics Presidents of the Romanian Handball Federation Romanian expatriate handball players Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Italy 20th-century Romanian sportsmen {{Romania-Olympic-medalist-stub