Marian Drăgulescu

The multiple world and European champion in artistic gymnastics Marian Dragulescu said, in an interview granted to AGERPRES, commenting on the isolation that all participants will be subjected to at the Tokyo Olympic Games in the context of the pandemic, that he is willing to accept 2-3 weeks of "prison" for the gold medal.

Romania will line up three female and three male gymnasts for the European Artistic Gymnastics Championships scheduled between April 21 and 25 in Basel, Switzerland, according to a post on the official website of the Romanian Gymnastics Federation (FRG).

Former and current Olympic, world and European champions such as Nadia Comaneci, Cristina Neagu, Mihai Covaliu, Gabriela Szabo, Marian Dragulescu, Elizabeta Samara or Ionela Cozmiuc have recently gone public, encouraging Romanians to stay at home and observe the orders of the authorities amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Marian Dragulescu has become the 50th Romanian athlete qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, after earning the ticket for the vault event final, on Monday, at the 2019 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Stuttgart. Dragulescu, who will turn 39 on 18 December, reached the final with the sixth score in qualifications, 14.624, after vaults of 14.616, respectively 14.633.

Retired three-time world champion runner Gabriela Szabo, retired artistic gymnast Andreea Raducan, a multiple gold medallist, and tennis player Victor Hanescu are among the public figures to participate in the Wings for Life World Run, a sports event with charitable purposes to be staged on May 3 in Bucharest, organisers report.

Photo credit: (c) Radu TUTA / AGERPRES PHOTO

Marian Dragulescu, the most decorated Romanian gymnast in activity, whose impressive collection includes eight world and nine European gold medals plus 3 Olympic medals, considers Bucharest is the perfect place to live in and trains for his fourth Olympic Games, the 2016 competition in Rio de Janeiro.