David Popovici has won the gold medal in the the men’s 200m freestyle final, Romania’s first gold medal of the 2024 Olympic Games.
Popovici, 19, won the race in 1:44.72, from Britains’s Matt Richards (+0.02) and American Luke Hobson (+0.07).
In taking the top spot, he became the first Romanian male swimmer to ever win an Olympic gold.
The teen also became the first Romanian swimmer to win any medal since 2004 when Camelia Potec won gold in the women’s 200 freestyle and Razvan Florea won bronze in the men’s 200 backstroke.
“David Popovici brings Romania its first Olympic medal of the (2024) Olympic Games in Paris! Congratulations, David, for this extraordinary performance!”, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis wrote on X.
The race was also revenge for the psychology student who turns 20 in September after he just missed the podium at the 2020 Tokyo Games with a 4th place finish in a 1:44.68, a national record at the time.
At one point, Popovici was in third place as Hobson of US came from behind to hit the front. But he made a late surge to win the race.
Germany’s Lukas Märtens, already a champion in Olympic pool here, took the early lead. Märtens held it until halfway followed by Matt Richards and Popovici in third.
The German swimmer made the turn for home still leading, but then came the kick from the other competitors and Popovici snatched gold to the delight of fans in the stadium and at home.
Popovici’s best time stands at a 1:42.97 which he swam back in 2022.
Romanian teen star David Popovici named Men’s World Swimmer of the Year
