The Most Famous

SWIMMERS from Romania

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This page contains a list of the greatest Romanian Swimmers. The pantheon dataset contains 709 Swimmers, 3 of which were born in Romania. This makes Romania the birth place of the 20th most number of Swimmers behind Finland, and Poland.

Top 7

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Romanian Swimmers of all time. This list of famous Romanian Swimmers is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.

Photo of Camelia Potec

1. Camelia Potec (b. 1982)

With an HPI of 33.86, Camelia Potec is the most famous Romanian Swimmer.  Her biography has been translated into 19 different languages on wikipedia.

Camelia Potec (Romanian pronunciation: [kaˈmeli.a ˈpotek]; born 19 February 1982, in Brăila) is a female Romanian swimmer, who won the gold medal in the women's 200 m freestyle at the 2004 Summer Olympics. She won the Mare Nostrum in 2004.

Photo of David Popovici

2. David Popovici (b. 2004)

With an HPI of 33.84, David Popovici is the 2nd most famous Romanian Swimmer.  His biography has been translated into 25 different languages.

David Popovici (Romanian pronunciation: [ˈdavid ˈpopovit͡ʃʲ]; born 15 September 2004) is a Romanian competitive swimmer who specializes in freestyle events and is the reigning Olympic champion in the 200-metre event, having won the gold medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics. He is a former world record holder in the long course 100-metre freestyle (performance which still represents the European record and junior world record for that event) and the current junior world record holder in the long course 200-metre freestyle. He also holds the junior world record in the short course 100-metre freestyle. At the 2022 World Aquatics Championships, Popovici won gold medals in his two signature events (Men's 100-metre freestyle and Men's 200-metre freestyle), becoming the first swimmer to do so at the same edition of the World Championships, since Jim Montgomery in 1973. Following his performances during the 2022 long course season, in which he won eleven gold medals and two silver medals, Popovici was voted Male Swimmer of the Year by both SwimSwam and Swimming World Magazine. During that summer, he established an unprecedented level of dominance, especially in the long course 100-metre freestyle, recording 13 of the 19-fastest swims in the world in 2022, while also becoming only the third swimmer in history to set an under 1:43 time in the long course 200-metre freestyle. At the 2024 Paris Olympics, he placed third in the 100-metre freestyle, earning the bronze medal, finishing just 0.01 seconds behind Australia's Kyle Chalmers.

Photo of Beatrice Câșlaru

3. Beatrice Câșlaru (b. 1975)

With an HPI of 32.23, Beatrice Câșlaru is the 3rd most famous Romanian Swimmer.  Her biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Beatrice Nicoleta Câșlaru (also Coadă; born 20 August 1975 in Brăila) is a former medley swimmer from Romania, who competed in three consecutive Summer Olympics for her native country, starting in 1996. At her second Olympic appearance, in Sydney, Australia, she won a silver and a bronze medal. Nicknamed Biki, she made her international debut at the 1991 European Aquatics Championships in Athens, Greece. Just like two other swimmers from Romania, Diana Mocanu and Camelia Potec, she comes from the town of Brăila.

Photo of Robert Glință

4. Robert Glință (b. 1997)

With an HPI of 20.53, Robert Glință is the 4th most famous Romanian Swimmer.  His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Robert Andrei Glință (Romanian pronunciation: [ˈrobert ˈglin.t͡sə]; born 18 April 1997) is the Romanian record holder in the long course and short course 50 metre backstroke and 100 metre backstroke. He is a former junior world record holder for 100 metre backstroke (short course), with a time of 50.77 seconds. He finalled in the 100 metre backstroke at two consecutive Summer Olympic Games, the 2016 Summer Olympic Games and the 2020 Summer Olympic Games. He represented Team Iron in the International Swimming League in 2019. At the 2021 World Short Course Championships, held at in December Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Glință achieved his highest place finish in the 100 metre backstroke, where he won the bronze medal with a time of 49.60 seconds, which was 0.37 seconds behind gold medalist Shaine Casas of the United States. It marked his first medal at a senior short course or long course World Championships. For the edition of the World Short Course Championships the following year, the 2022 World Short Course Championships held in December in Melbourne, Australia, he placed twenty-eighth in the 100 metre backstroke with a time of 52.65 seconds.

Photo of Bianca Costea

5. Bianca Costea (b. 2005)

With an HPI of 0.00, Bianca Costea is the 5th most famous Romanian Swimmer.  Her biography has been translated into different languages.

Bianca-Andreea Costea (Romanian pronunciation: [biˈaŋka anˈdree̯a ˈkoste̯a]; born January 26, 2005) is a Romanian swimmer who is competing in the 50 meter and 100 meter freestyle events at the 2020 Summer Olympics. She won a gold medal in the 50 meter freestyle at the 2019 European Youth Summer Olympic Festival.

Photo of Katie Shanahan

6. Katie Shanahan (b. 2004)

With an HPI of 0.00, Katie Shanahan is the 6th most famous Romanian Swimmer.  Her biography has been translated into different languages.

Katie Shanahan (born 25 June 2004) is a Scottish professional swimmer.

Photo of Paula Ruiz

7. Paula Ruiz (b. 1999)

With an HPI of 0.00, Paula Ruiz is the 7th most famous Romanian Swimmer.  Her biography has been translated into different languages.

Paula Ruiz Bravo (born 16 February 1999) is a Spanish swimmer, specialising in open water events. She competed in the women's 10 km event at the 2019 World Aquatics Championships, finishing in 24th place.

People

Pantheon has 7 people classified as Romanian swimmers born between 1975 and 2005. Of these 7, 7 (100.00%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Romanian swimmers include Camelia Potec, David Popovici, and Beatrice Câșlaru. As of April 2024, 5 new Romanian swimmers have been added to Pantheon including David Popovici, Beatrice Câșlaru, and Bianca Costea.

Living Romanian Swimmers

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Newly Added Romanian Swimmers (2024)

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