Romania has won the first gold medal at the Rio Olympics, in team fencing. Simona Gherman, Ana Maria Popescu, Simona Pop and Loredana Dinu managed to beat China, 44-38, for the second time in history, IPN reports.
Without medals in the individual event, the Romanian athletes competed in the final against the powerful team of China, which became world champion in 2015 and Olympic champion in 2012. However, the Romanian team mobilized exemplarily and managed almost perfect attacks.
Romania can also win gold in the tennis doubles. In the semifinals, the pair Horia Tecau and Florin Mergea defeated Steve Johnson and Jack Sock of the U.S. 6-3, 7-5 after 1.16 hours of play, securing thus the second medal of the Romanian Olympic squad. In the final, the Romanian pair meets Spain’s Rafael Nadal and Marc Lopez, who qualified for the final after winning against Canada’s Vasek Pospisil and Daniel Nestor 7-6, 7-6.
As many as 56 nations have won by at least one medal so far. The United States won 13 gold medals, 12 silvers and 10 bronzes. The representatives of Vietnam, Kosovo and Fiji became Olympic champions for the first time. The Moldovan athletes haven’t yet won medals. Brothers Sergey and Oleg Tarnovschi are expected to win a medal in kayak-canoeing, while Aaron Cook in taekwondo.
