Sport in Romania
Oină is the traditional sport of Romania. This sport is played with a bat and a leather ball and resembles baseball. Football (soccer), however, is by far the country's most popular sport, and all the big cities have stadiums and teams in the national professional league. There are various sports that are played and followed in Romania. Aside from football, other popular and most played sports include handball, basketball, rugby union, tennis and gymnastics.
Romainian Simona Halep at WimbeldonIlie Nastase is Romania's known Number One professional tennis player. He was included into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1991.Ilie Nastase won and garnered several important prizes that made him one of the world`s famous professional top tennis players. Other notable Romanian athlete is Gheorghe Hagi, a former Romanian footballer. He is considered the greatest Romanian footballer ever because of his stunning skillfulness in Football. Romanians fans called him "Regele" (The King).
The 2013 European Youth Olympic Winter Festival was an international multi-sport event held in Braşov, Romania. It was the 11th edition of the European Youth Olympic Winter Festival. It was organized by the Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee (COSR), headed by Octavian Morariu. 910 athletes from 45 nations participated in 37 events of eight disciplines.
Romania is the only Eastern bloc nation that participated in the 1984 Olympic Games held in Moscow. This was also the most successful Games that Romania had taking home 53 Olympic medals, 20 of which are gold. In total, Romania has taken in 302 Olympic medals with gymnastics as their biggest events (up to 2014). Romania is one of the highest medal-producing country in the Olympics, next only to Hungary, that has never hosted it.
Below are details of sports, sporting events and sports people related to Romania.
Popular sports of Romania
- Football (Soccer), Gymnastics, handball, basketball, rugby union, tennis
Traditional Sports
- Oină – a Romanian traditional sport, similar in many ways to Baseball and Lapta played outdoors by two teams of 11 players, taking turns either batting or catching.
Romania's Sporting Success
Great athletes from Romania
- Nadia Comaneci (gymnastics)
- Ilie Nastase (tennis)
- Gheorghe Hagi (football)
- Simona Halep (Tennis)
Romania Sports trivia
- The Romanian team in the 1930 World Cup were selected by their King.
- Romania was the only Eastern bloc nation to participate in the 1984 Olympic Games held in Moscow.
- Romania won medals in the women’s team all-around event in gymnastics at every Olympiad it participated from 1976 to 2012.
Romania at major events
- Romania at the Summer Olympics
- Romania at the Winter Olympics
- Romania at the FIFA World Cup
- Romania at the Rugby World Cup
- Romania at the UEFA Euros
Past sporting events hosted in Romania
- 1953 World Table Tennis Championships in Bucharest
- 2013 European Youth Olympic Winter Festival - held in Braşov, Romania
Upcoming sporting events in Romania
Annual sporting events held in Romania
Sporting Facilities in Romania
- National Research Institute for Sport (Institutul National de Cercetare pentru Sport)
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