Matei Silivestru, five medals (three gold) at the National Championship, plus the third performance of the competition! (PHOTO GALLERY)

• Matei Silivestru (15 years old) climbed the podium in the junior category (15 – 16 years old).

At the National Swimming Championship for seniors, youth, juniors I and juniors II, from Otopeni, the Palatul Copiilor din Constanța was once again on the podium, which won five medals, thanks to Matei Silivestru.

At the age of 15, Matei Silivestru won three gold and two bronze medals in juniors I (15-16 years). And the icing on the cake was the achievement of the 3rd most valuable performance of the competition, according to the International Scoreboard, in juniors 1! It should be emphasized that, in this hierarchy, of the three on the podium, two were representatives of Constanța: 1. Marius Cristian State (CSA Steaua, born in 2008) – 756p, 2. Tudor Andrei Iordache (CSM Constanța, 2008) – 746p , 3. Matei Gabriel Silivestru (Palatul Copiilor Constanța, 2009) – 737p.

“It wasn’t bad!”

“Our Matei (15 years old) ranked third, with a performance of 51.86 obtained in the 100m Freestyle event, which brought him 737 points on the International Scoreboard. If we also add the 5 (five) medals won at this edition of the championships, of which 3 national champions in juniors (50m.-100m.-200m.Free) and 2 Bronze medals (100m.Free Youth and 400m.Free Juniors) we come to the conclusion that… it wasn’t bad! And all this in battle with athletes 2-3 years older than him. Well done, Mateuț!”, said the coach of Matei Silivestru and Vlad Nicolaev, Octavian Tileagă.

Personal bests in all title races

Matei Silivestru set new personal records in all the events in which he emerged national champion: 23.91 in the junior 50 m freestyle, 51.86, after a sensational race, in the junior 100 m freestyle (which also brought him bronze at the youth level) and 1:54:60 in the junior 200m freestyle.

Missed medal by seven hundredths of a second!

Another swimmer from Palatul Copiilor Constanța, Vlad Nicolaev, was very close to a medal in the 50m breaststroke. “On day 3 of the Championships, the meeting of the Finals, one warm – one cold! By 7 hundredths of a second, Vlăduț missed a medal in the 50m Breaststroke (29.41 – new personal record), although, swimming in Final B, he achieved better times than the medalists of the category, who were in Final A (regulation kick). For his part, Matei, carelessly, narrowly missed the qualification in the OPEN final, which, according to the regulations, did not allow him to win the national title, settling for the Bronze medal”, Octavian Tileagă pointed out.

“I also passed this important test with flying colors”

The emeritus coach, under whose guidance Răzvan Florea from Constanta climbed the Olympic podium in 2004, in Athens, emphasized that the saunas, as well as the massage sessions, for recovery, with the help of the masseur, contributed to the success of his students from Otopeni made available by Răzvan Florea.

“National Championship Final! Drawing a line, I note, like the Finns, that the sauna is still a necessary good. That aside, until the 1980s the Finnish government met in the sauna every Wednesday. It is not a joke! So do we here. One cold, one hot, so that in the end we can enjoy the achievement of more than 90% of the proposed objectives.

In conclusion, although we showed up to the competition with a team slightly affected by illnesses, but especially by the stress, emotions and even the absences due to the Simulation of the national assessment in school, we also passed this important test in the life of the performance athlete with flying colours. And that’s because I understood firsthand the ungrateful situation of the athletes who faced two important goals in their lives, unfortunately overlapping in the same period: school testing and the selection championship in the national team of Romania.

Now we are happy! We return home with our heads held high. 5 medals won (3 national champion titles + 1 Bronze medal) and the pride of obtaining the 3rd performance as the value of the competition, according to the International Scoreboard. Not to mention a medal missed by a few hundredths of a second by Vlad Nicolaev. The Finnish sauna was worth it!

Well done, “Dolfinas”! Your personal records are proof that no matter what the situation, you all gave it your all. That’s what performance means! Last but not least, thanks to the parents, who had faith in the children, encouraging them and supporting them through the hard times! Congratulations, Matei Silivestru, for your performance! From this moment, only 15 years later, he managed to “enter Europe” through his results. We are moving forward!”, explained Octavian Tileagă.

“A gesture that helped us enormously”

“Since we are in the chapter of thanks and congratulations, we cannot fail to mention the extraordinary gesture of Răzvan Florea, who, at his own expense, made available to us the masseur necessary for the recovery of our athletes after the tests and before the Finals. A gesture that, given the large number of tests and finals in which the “Dolphins” participated, helped us enormously. So thank you from the bottom of my heart, Răzvane!”, Octavian Tileagă also mentioned.

SPECIFICATIONS:

Law 190 of 2018, in Article 7, states that journalistic activity is exempt from some provisions of the GDPR Regulation, if a balance is maintained between freedom of expression and the protection of personal data.

The information in this article is of public interest and is obtained from open public sources.

Photo source: Facebook (Octavian Tileagă)

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