Florin Popescu (born 30 August 1974 in

Iancu Jianu Iancu Jianu (; 1787 – 14 December 1842), also Ioniță Jianu, was a Wallachian Romanian hajduk. Biography Born in Caracal, Oltenia, Wallachia, in 1787, to the Jianu boyar family, as the youngest of four brothers. His father, Costache Jianu, wa ...

, Olt) is a

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 sprint canoer who competed from the mid-1990s to 2005. Competing in two

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The ina ...

, he won two Olympic medals at Sydney in

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

with teammate Mitică Pricop (gold: C-2 1000 m, bronze: C-2 500 m). He won a total of seven

world championship 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, ...

gold medals (and nineteen total) as well as seven European championship golds, making him the most successful Romanian paddler of modern times. Injury forced Popescu to retire at the end of the 2005 season after winning his seventh world title (C-4 500 m) 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, ...

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital and largest city of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb stands near the international border between Croatia and Sl ...

, Croatia. Popescu is 183 cm (6'0") tall and raced at 79 kg (174 lbs). He lists his interests as football,

motor racing Motorsport, motorsports or motor sport is a global term used to encompass the group of competitive sporting events which primarily involve the use of motorized vehicles. The terminology can also be used to describe forms of competition of tw ...

and handball. He was voted Romanian Sportsman of the Year in 1993.

References

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External links

* * 1974 births Living people Sportspeople from Olt County Canoeists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Canoeists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic canoeists for Romania Olympic gold medalists for Romania Olympic bronze medalists for Romania Romanian male canoeists Olympic medalists in canoeing ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships medalists in Canadian Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics {{Romania-Olympic-medalist-stub