Ion Panțuru
Panțuru (left) and Focșeneanu (1973)
Personal information
Born11 September 1934
Comarnic, Romania
DiedJanuary 17, 2016(2016-01-17) (aged 81)
Ploiești, Romania
Height172 cm (5 ft 8 in)
Weight77 kg (170 lb)
Sport
SportBobsleigh
ClubBobclub Sinaia
Medal record
Representing  Romania
Olympic Games
Bronze medal – third place1968 GrenobleTwo-man
World Championships
Silver medal – second place1969 Lake PlacidTwo-man
Bronze medal – third place1973 Lake PlacidTwo-man

Ion Panţuru (11 September 1934 – 17 January 2016) was a Romanian bobsledder. He competed in two-man and four-man events at the 1964, 1968, 1972 and 1976 Olympics and served as the Olympic flag bearer for Romania in 1964 and 1972.[1]

Panţuru took up bobsleigh at the age of 24, after playing as a football goalkeeper at the Divizia B-level.[2] At the 1968 Games he won a bronze medal with brakeman Nicolae Neagoe, which remains Romania's only medal at the Winter Olympics. At the same Olympics he was also close to a bronze medal in the four-man competition, placing fourth. At the FIBT World Championships he won two medals in the two-man event, together with another brakeman Dumitru Focșeneanu, with a silver in 1969 and a bronze in 1973. At the European championships Panţuru won four-man gold medals in 1967 and 1971, placing second in four-man in 1968–69 and in two-man events in 1967 and 1969; he also won a four-man bronze medal in 1970.[3]

Panţuru lost his 1969 World Championships medal in a car on his way to the airport. The medal was found in a basement 30 years later, and returned to Panțuru. After retiring from competitions he worked as a national bobsleigh coach.[3] For his sports achievements he was made an honorary citizen of three Romanian towns: Comarnic, Sinaia and Busteni.[2]

References

  1. ↑ Romania Archived 16 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine. sports-reference.com
  2. 1 2 "Ion Panţuru, eroul bobului romanesc" (in Romanian). Retrieved 28 May 2014.
  3. 1 2 Ion Panțuru Archived 16 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine. sports-reference.com
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