Ivan Patzaichin

Ivan Patzaichin
Personal information
Born Mila 23, Tulcea County, Romania
Height 1.76 m (5 ft 9 in)
Weight 79 kg (174 lb)
Sport
Club CS Dinamo București

Ivan Patzaichin (Romanian pronunciation: [iˈvan paˈt͡sajkin]; born 26 November 1949) is a Romanian sprint canoer who competed from the late 1960s to the mid-1980s.

Biography

Competing in five Summer Olympics, he won seven medals, more than any other competitor in the history of the Romanian canoeing events. This included four gold (C-1 1000 m: 1972, C-2 1000 m: 1968, 1980, 1984) and three silvers (C-2 500 m: 1980, 1984; C-2 1000 m: 1972).

He also won 22 world championship medals with nine golds (C-1 1000 m: 1973, 1977; C-1 10000 m: 1978, C-2 500 m: 1979, C-2 1000 m: 1970, 1981, 1983; C-2 10000 m: 1982), four silvers (C-1 1000 m: 1975, C-2 1000 m: 1971, C-2 10000 m: 1981, 1983), and nine bronzes (C-1 500 m: 1971, 1973, 1974; C-1 1000 m: 1974, 1978, 1979; C-1 10000 m: 1974, 1977, 1979).

Born in Mila 23, Tulcea County, to a Russian Lipovan family, he was a member of the Dinamo Bucharest canoe club. When he retired, Patzaichin became a coach and is now head of the Romanian national team, known as Amiralul ("The Admiral"). His pupils, including Olympic champion Florin Popescu, have won over one hundred sprint canoe titles.

External links

Ivan Patzaichin on 2004 Romanian stamps
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ivan Patzaichin.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Sunday, February 28, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.