Romfilatelia introduces into circulation, on Wednesday, August 18th, 2021, the postage stamps issue Olympic Medals 2020. The issue consists of four stamps and a perforated souvenir sheet.
Four medals – one gold, three silver – make up the “harvest” with which the Romanian athletes participating in the 2020 Olympic Games, held between July 23rd and August 8th, 2021, returned home.
The sports in which they achieved these successes are rowing and fencing.
On the stamp with the face value of Lei 2 and on the perforated souvenir sheet with the face value of Lei 31.50 are represented Nicoleta Ancuta Bodnar and Simona Geanina Radis. In the Rowing Women’s Double Sculls, they took the 1st place, thus obtaining the gold medal, but also set a new Olympic record.
On the stamp with the face value of Lei 7 is represented the fencer Ana-Maria Popescu, who won the Olympic silver medal in the épée event.
On the stamp with the face value of Lei 9 are represented Marius Vasile Cozmiuc and Ciprian Tudosa, who won a silver medal in the Rowing Men’s Double Sculls.
On the stamp with the face value of Lei 10.50 are represented Mihaita Vasile Tiganescu, Mugurel Vasile Semciuc, Stefan Constantin Berariu and Cosmin Pascari, who obtained the silver medal in the Men’s Coxless Four competition.
In 2019, they were all included in “2020 Samurai”, the special assistance programme for athletes with the potential to win medals at the XXXII Summer Edition of the Olympics.
The summer edition of the Games of the XXXII Olympiad was rescheduled in 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic, being the first Olympics in history to be postponed. After a year of uncertainty, however, the competition took place and is considered a symbol of the triumph of sports and the Olympic Movement in the fight against the pandemic. Romania participated in 17 sports, with an Olympic team of 101 athletes.
Ana-Maria Popescu (b. 1984) is a silver medallist in the individual épée fencing event at the Olympic Games
Beijing 2008 and won the gold medal in team épée fencing competition at the Olympic Games Rio 2016. She was several times world and European champion. She dominated the world ranking of the International Fencing Federation (FIE), being the best athlete of the world in épée in 2008, 2009, 2013 and 2019.
Nicoleta Ancuta Bodnar (b. 1998) has won numerous medals at world and European competitions for juniors, U23 and seniors. In addition to the recent Olympic gold medal, the most recent are: silver at the World Championships in Linz, Austria (2019) and at the European Championships in Lucerne, Switzerland (2019), gold at the World Cups in Rotterdam, the Netherlands (2019) and Lucerne, Switzerland (2021), at the European Championships in Poznan, Poland (2020) and in Varese, Italy (2021), all in the rowing double sculls event.
Simona Geanina Radis (b. 1999) won a silver medal in the rowing double sculls events at the World Championships in Ottensheim, Austria (2019) and the European Championships in Lucerne, Switzerland (2019) and gold at the World Cups in Rotterdam (2019) and Lucerne (2021) and at the European Championships in Poznan (2020) and Varese (2021).
Mihaita Vasile Tiganescu (b. 1998), winner of several gold medals at the Junior and U23 World Championships, is also a bronze medallist at the World Cup in Lucerne (2021), with a silver medal at the World Championships in Linz, Austria (2019), at the European Championship in Varese (2021) and at the World Cup in Linz (2018), and with gold, at the European Championship in Glasgow (2018), in the rowing four sculls events.
Mugurel Vasile Semciuc (b. 1998), gold medallist in three U23 European championships, also won the bronze medal at the World Cup in Lucerne (2021), the silver medal at the World Cup in Plovdiv, Bulgaria (2019) and the European Championship from Varese (2021) and the World Championship in Ottensheim, Austria (2019), in the rowing coxless fours event.
Stefan Constantin Berariu (b. 1999) is a multiple national and Balkan champion, winner of more gold and silver medals in U23 European and world championships. He won bronze at the World Cup in Lucerne (2021), in the rowing four sculls event, silver at the World Cup in Ottensheim (2018), at the World Championship in Ottensheim (2019) and at the European Championship in Varese (2021) and gold at the European Championships in Glasgow (2018).
Cosmin Pascari (b. 1998) is a multiple Youth & Junior world and European champion; as a senior, he won silver medals at the European Championships in Varese (2021) and at the World Championships in Linz (2019) and the gold medals at the European Championships in Glasgow, United Kingdom (2018), in the rowing four sculls event.
Marius Vasile Cozmiuc (b. 1992) has an impressive number of medals – bronze, silver and gold – obtained at World and Youth and Senior European championships. In addition to the Olympic silver obtained this year, the most recent are the medals gained in 2018 (bronze at the European Championships in Glasgow and silver at the World Championships in Plovdiv), in 2019 (silver at the European Championships in Lucerne) and 2020 (gold medal at the European Championships in Poznan), all in the rowing double sculls event.
Ciprian Tudosa (b. 1997) won numerous medals at Junior, Youth and Senior World and European championships,
in rowing doubles, fours and 8+1 events. He won the gold medal at the Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, China, in 2014. Among the most recent successes, along with the Olympic silver medal gained this year, are: in 2018, bronze at the European Championships in Glasgow and silver at the World Championship in Plovdiv (double sculls); in 2019, silver at the European Championship in Lucerne (double sculls) and gold at the Youth European Championship in Ioannina, Greece (8+1 event); in 2020, gold medal at the European Championship in Poznan (double sculls; in 2021, bronze at the World Cup II in Lucerne (double sculls).
Romfilatelia thanks the Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee, federal coach Dorin Alupei and photographer Cristian Nistor for their support in developing this postage stamps issue.
