Road to the Olympics – Dumitru Parvulescu, a Legend of Romanian Wrestling

Romanian wrestlers, either competing in the Greco-Roman contests or in the freestyle events, are no longer among the worlds elite nowadays. The situation was entirely different two decades ago, when wrestlers from Romania, particularly in Greco-Roman sty

Eugen Cojocariu, 26.04.2012, 15:10

Romanian wrestlers, either competing in the Greco-Roman contests or in the freestyle events, are no longer among the world’s elite nowadays. The situation was entirely different two decades ago, when wrestlers from Romania, particularly in Greco-Roman style, used to walk away with several gold medals from the world’s most prestigious competitions.





Between 1961 and 1985, wrestlers from Romania netted 14 world titles. Athletes like Gheorghe Berceanu, Nicu Ginga or Stefan Rusu saw their names even twice in the ranking of the world’s best wrestlers. For three years Romania shinned in Europe, with wrestlers coming first in almost all nations standings, in Bursa – 1977, in Oslo — 1978 and Bucharest — 1979.





Today we’ll introduce to you the first Romanian wrestler to walk away with gold from an Olympic competition. His name is Dumitru Parvulescu and he stepped unto the first step of the podium in Rome Olympics in 1960.





Parvulescu was born in Bucharest on June 14th 1933 and took up wrestling concurrently with boxing at Stiinta Bucharest, with coach Petrica Ioanitescu. Parvulescu later joined Steagu Rosu, based in Brasov, central Romania, and Steaua Bucharest. His first notable performance came at the Olympics in Melbourne, back in 1956, when he ranked fourth in the 52-kilogram category contest, missing bronze by a small margin. Four years later, in Rome, he was back with a vengeance; arguably there was no match for Parvulescu in the 52-kilogram category.





He successfully defended his place among in the world’s wrestling elite, with a silver medal in a world championship, before the Olympic Games in Tokyo, where he also stepped up on the third step of the podium.





After withdrawing from competitions, as a trainer he entirely dedicated himself to the younger generations of wrestlers. Among those who benefited from his expertise and inspired guidance at Progresul Sports Club in Bucharest, there was Vasile Andrei, Romania’s Olympic champion in Los Angeles in 1984.





The year 2007 is a sad date in the memory of wrestling lovers in Romania, as it was the end of a legend – Dumitru Parvulescu.