Constantin Popovici
Personal information
NationalityRomanian
Born (1988-10-02) 2 October 1988
Bucharest, Romania
Height1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Weight63 kg (139 lb)
Sport
CountryRomania
SportDiving, high diving
EventPlatform
ClubCSA Steaua Bucuresti
Coached byAvasiloaie Florin
Medal record
Men's high diving
Representing  Romania
World Championships
Gold medal – first place2023 FukuokaMen
European Championships
Gold medal – first place 2022 Rome27 m high dive
FINA Aquatics Festival
Bronze medal – third place 2021 Abu Dhabi 27 m high dive
Men's diving
FINA Diving Grand Prix
Bronze medal – third place 2008 Rome10 m platform
Bronze medal – third place 2019 Rostock10 m synchro

Constantin Popovici (born 2 October 1988) is a Romanian platform diver. In 2019, he became the first Romanian to achieve a first-place finish at a stop of the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series. He is the 2022 European champion in the 27 metre high dive. He has won multiple medals as part of the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series and he won the bronze medal in the 27 metre high dive event at the Abu Dhabi Aquatics Festival in 2021. For the 10 metre platform event at the 2008 Summer Olympics, he placed twenty-third overall.

Background

Popovici is a member of CSA Steaua Bucuresti Diving Club and is coached and trained by Avasiloaie Florin.

Career

2008: Olympic debut

Popovici represented Romania at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, where he competed for the 10 metre platform event.[1] He placed twenty-third out of thirty divers in the preliminary round, with a total score of 392.30, after six successive attempts.[2]

2019

As part of the 2019 Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series, Popovici won the gold medal at the stop held in Dublin, Ireland in May, marking the first time in the history of the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series that a Romanian achieved a first-place finish.[3]

2021–2022

In the third round of competition of the 2021 Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series stop held in County Mayo, Ireland in September, Popovici earned four tens and won the silver medal, finishing ahead of bronze medalist Alessandro De Rose of Italy and behind Gary Hunt of France.[4] On the first day of high diving competition at the Abu Dhabi Aquatics Festival, held in December 2021 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, he was leading in the 27 metre event with a score of 210.60 points.[5] The second and final day, he won the bronze medal in the event, achieving a mark of 432.00 points and scoring just 4.90 points behind gold medalist in the event Aidan Heslop of Great Britain.[6]

At the stop of the 2022 Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series held in Paris, France in June, Popovici won the bronze medal with a score of 432.90 points, rounding out the podium with gold medalist Cătălin Preda, also of Romania, and Gary Hunt of France.[7] The following month, he placed 21st in the 10 metre platform event at the 2022 World Aquatics Championships, held at Danube Arena in Budapest, Hungary, with a score of 345.10 points.[8] Later in the month, at the stop of the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series held in Copenhagen, Denmark, he won his first gold medal of the 2022 World Series, scoring 426.10 points to finish over 25 points ahead of silver medalist Cătălin Preda and over 30 points ahead of bronze medalist Nikita Fedotov.[9]

2022 European Aquatics Championships

Popovici entered to compete in the 27 metre high dive at the 2022 European Aquatics Championships, held in August in Rome, Italy, with the second dive in his dive order ranking as the highest degree of difficulty dive of all entrants at a 5.8 degree of difficulty.[10] His first dive, on 18 August with a 2.8 degree of difficulty, scored 75.60 points, which tied him in rank for third with the Italians Andrea Barnaba and Alessandro De Rose.[11][12] For his second of the three dives on the dive order, and leading up to one optional dive not on the dive order, he brought his total score across the first two dives up to 206.10 points and ranked fourth.[13] By the end of competition, he had amassed 455.70 points across all four dives, winning the gold medal 19.50 points ahead of fellow Romanian Cătălin Preda.[14][15][16][17][18]

One week later, Popovici won the stop of the 2022 Cliff Diving World Series held in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a score of 481.50 points, which set a new record for the highest score ever achieve at a single Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series stop.[19]

International championships

Meet 10 metre platform mixed 10 metre synchro 27 metre high dive
OG 200823rd
(392.30)
WC 20098th
(476.20)
WC 201941st
(292.70)
EC 201911th
(359.60)
5th
(269.34)
EC 20208th
(426.30)
ADAF 20213rd place, bronze medalist(s)
(432.00)
WC 202221st
(345.10)
EC 20221st place, gold medalist(s)
(455.70)

References

  1. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Constantin Popovici". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 25 December 2012.
  2. "Men's 10m Platform Preliminary". NBC Olympics. Archived from the original on 19 August 2012. Retrieved 25 December 2012.
  3. Strobl, Katrin (21 October 2020). "Iffland stretches winning streak as Popovici takes maiden victory". Red Bull. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
  4. Heaney, Steven (12 September 2021). "Multiple new records set at cliff diving World Series in Mayo". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
  5. "Popovici leads stellar men's High Diving field during day one action at the FINA Aquatics Festival". FINA. 19 December 2021. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
  6. FINA (20 December 2021). "FINA High Diving Qualifier 2021 Abu Dhabi (UAE): Men's High Dive Round 4 Detailed Results". Omega Timing. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
  7. Mădălina, Nănuț (19 June 2022). "Românii au luat cu asalt podiumul la etapa a doua a Red Bull Cliff Diving" (in Romanian). 007sport.ro. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
  8. FINA (2 July 2022). "19th FINA World Championships Budapest (HUN): Men's 10m Platform Preliminary Detailed Results". Omega Timing. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
  9. Herrán, Alfonso (19 July 2022). "Iffland y Popovici encabezan el Cliff Diving en Copenhague" (in Spanish). Diario AS. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
  10. LEN (18 August 2022). "European Aquatics Championships Roma 2022: Dive Order Men's High Diving". Microplus. Retrieved 18 August 2022.
  11. LEN (18 August 2022). "European Aquatics Championships Roma 2022: Results After Dive 1 Men's High Diving". Microplus. Retrieved 18 August 2022.
  12. Primavera, Erika (18 August 2022). "A Roma scattano i tuffi dalle grandi altezze, azzurri a caccia di medaglie agli Europei" (in Italian). dire.it. Retrieved 18 August 2022.
  13. Tiseo, Giandomenico (19 August 2022). "LIVE Tuffi grandi altezze, Europei 2022 in DIRETTA: Elisa Cosetti di BRONZO! Sesto Alessandro De Rose dopo due rotazioni" (in Italian). OA Sport. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
  14. LEN (20 August 2022). "European Aquatics Championships Roma 2022: Results Men's High Diving Final". Microplus. Retrieved 20 August 2022.
  15. Pérez, Marta (20 August 2022). "Gimeno es séptimo y Dévora décimo en el triunfo de Popovici" (in Spanish). Mundo Deportivo. Retrieved 20 August 2022.
  16. "Constantin Popovici şi Cătălin Preda au obţinut aur şi argint în proba de sărituri de la mare înălţime, la Europenele de la Roma" (in Romanian). Digi Sport. 20 August 2022. Retrieved 20 August 2022.
  17. "AUR și ARGINT pentru România în proba de sǎrituri de la înǎlțime de la Campionatul European din Roma!" (in Romanian). Gazeta Sporturilor. 20 August 2022. Retrieved 20 August 2022.
  18. "Vizes Eb, műugrás: román dupla férfi óriás-toronyugrásban" (in Hungarian). Nemzeti Sport. 20 August 2022. Retrieved 20 August 2022.
  19. "Record du Romain Constantin Popovici en plongeon extrême à Mostar, Gary Hunt 4e" (in French). L'Équipe. 28 August 2022. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
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