Cristian Gațu (born 20 August 1945) 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, a ...

n handball 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 was an ethnic Aromanian. He was born to a renowned sports journalist Petre Gațu. In his early years he studied civil engineering 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 ...

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 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is t ...

and handball, eventually choosing handball for his career. With

Steaua București Steaua or Steaua București may refer to: * CSA Steaua București, a Romanian multi-sports club * CSA Steaua București (football), the football team of the multi-sports club * Fotbal Club FCSB, a football team that used this name between 2003 ...

, he won ten national titles and the 1977

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

. 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 The Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee ( ro, Comitetul Olimpic și Sportiv Român, COSR) is responsible for Romania's participation in the Olympic Games. History The Romanian Olympic Committee ( ro, Comitetul Olimpic Român) was formed in 1 ...

. In parallel he headed the

Romanian Handball Federation The Romanian Handball Federation ( ro, Federaţia Română de Handbal) (FRH) is the governing body of handball in Romania. It is based in Bucharest. FRH is led by 6 departments. History * The official rules of the game are written and published b ...

between 1997 and 2014. On 14 September 2007, he was promoted to the military rank of

brigadier general Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed t ...

Honours

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, ...

1970 and 1974 with

. *

EHF Champions League The Men's 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 me ...

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

References

External links

* * * Sportspeople 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 of Romania Romanian male handball players Olympic silver medalists for Romania Olympic bronze medalists for Romania CSA Steaua București (handball) players FC Steaua București presidents 1945 births Living people Medalists at the 1976 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1972 Summer Olympics Presidents of the Romanian Handball Federation {{Romania-Olympic-medalist-stub