| THE ATHLETE OF THE WEEK: CANOEIST SILVIU SIMIOCENCU 20/05/2008 |
| (2008-05-20) |
| Last updated: 2008-05-20 18:26 EET |
The European Kayak-Canoeing Championships drew to a close in Milan, Italy at the end of last week. Romanian athletes were among the protagonists and eventually managed to reap medals in all four events of the competition. The male coxwainless four-canoe crew reaped gold in the 500 metes race. Made up of Ciprian Popa, Niculae Flocea, Silviu Simiocencu and Catalin Costache, the Romanian crew passed the finish line after 1 minute, 39 seconds and 237 thousands of a second, more than a second earlier than the Hungarian crew, that came second. Third came the Russians. The competition may not stand at Olympic level, yet a European title is a notable performance.
Romania reaped silver, also in the male coxwainless four-canoe race, but this time on the 1,000-meter distance. Walking home with bronze were the women’s kayak 2 and kayak 4 crews, both on the 1,000-meter distance.
Among the coxwainless four-canoe crew members who reaped gold, veteran Silviu Simiocencu has drawn our attention, RRI designating him the Athlete of the Week.
Silviu Simiocencu was born in 1975 in Braila, South-Eastern Romania. Four years ago, at the Athens Olympics he was the favourite of the double skull race, where he paired up with Florin Popescu, the gold medallist in Sydney in 2000. The two were among the world’s top canoeists both in 2002 and in 2003, when they even reaped the world title in the 1,000 meters event. Sadly, in Athens, Popescu and Simiocencu narrowly failed to reap gold in the competition.
Both in the 5, 000 meters and in the 1,000 meters races, Popescu and Simiocencu came fourth. Simiocencu has since been one of the key members of the Romanian coxwainless four-canoe crew, with whom he won several medals, both in the European and World championships. Popescu and Simiocencu’s latest exploit was the gold medal they reaped last year at the World Championships in Duisburg, in the 1,000 meters event, together Iosif Chirila, Andrei Cuculici and Ciprian Popa.
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2026-06-05
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