Romania competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. Since the nation's Olympic participation started in 1900 (and its official debut in 1924), Romanian athletes had appeared in every edition of the Summer Olympic Games, except the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles during the Great Depression, and the 1948 Summer Olympics in London.
At the 2016 Olympics, the Romanian team consisted of 97 athletes, 34 men and 63 women, across 14 sports, their smallest in Summer Olympic history since 1988. For the fourth time in history, Romania fielded more female athletes than males at the Games, due to the proliferation of women in both athletics and rowing making the cut and the comeback of the women's handball squad after being absent from London 2012.
Romania left Rio de Janeiro with four medals (one gold, one silver, and two bronze), signifying the country's poorest performance at the Summer Olympics since 1952. The women's épée team brought home Romania's only gold medal at the Games, beating the top-ranked Chinese team in the final match with the help of early unmatched touches from four-time Olympian Ana Maria Brânză. Horia Tecău and Florin Mergea secured a historic first Olympic tennis medal of any color for their team, a silver in the men's doubles. The women's eight rowing squad made a late surge to obtain the final podium spot, while Russian-born Albert Saritov closed out the nation's overall tally at the Games with a bronze in freestyle wrestling. For the first time since 1972, Romanian athletes failed to earn an Olympic medal in artistic gymnastics.
Originally, Romania collected a total of five medals. On 13 October 2016, the International Olympic Committee stripped weightlifter Gabriel Sîncrăian of his bronze medal after he failed a drug test, with his sample showing excess testosterone.
Medalists
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Medal Name Sport Event Date Ana Maria BrânzăLoredana DinuSimona GhermanSimona Pop Fencing Women's team épée Horia TecăuFlorin Mergea Tennis Men's doubles Mădălina BereșAndreea BoghianAdelina BogușRoxana CogianuIuliana PopaLaura OpreaMihaela PetrilăIoana StrungaruDaniela Druncea (cox) Rowing Women's eight Albert Saritov Wrestling Men's freestyle 97 kg | width=22% align=left valign="top" | Medals by sportSport TotalFencing 1 0 01Tennis 0 1 01Rowing 0 0 11Wrestling 0 0 11 Total 1 1 2 4
Medals by genderGender TotalMale0112Female1012 Total 1 1 2 4
Competitors Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee (, COSR) fielded a team of 97 athletes, 34 men and 63 women, to compete across 14 sports at the Games; it was the nation's smallest delegation sent to the Olympics since 1952. For only the fourth time in history, Romania was represented by more female athletes than males, due to the proliferation of women in both athletics and rowing making the cut, and the comeback of the women's handball squad after being absent from London 2012. Of the 97 participants, 31 of them attended at least a single Olympiad, with the rest making their debut in Rio de Janeiro.
For the first time since 1968, Romania did not send any of the artistic gymnastics squads to the Games, snapping the country's medal streak in the team event after four decades. Track and field accounted for the largest number of athletes on the squad with 22 entries. There was a single competitor in boxing, road cycling, rhythmic gymnastics, and shooting.
Seven of the past Olympic medalists returned, including defending champion Alin Moldoveanu in men's air rifle shooting, triple jumper Marian Oprea, fencers Tiberiu Dolniceanu (men's sabre) and Ana Maria Brânză (women's épée), judoka Corina Căprioriu (women's 57 kg), and gymnastics veterans Marian Drăgulescu, who owned a career tally of three medals leading to his fourth Games, and three-time champion Cătălina Ponor, who was selected as the nation's flag bearer in the opening ceremony, the first by a gymnast in Romania's Olympic history.
Other notable competitors on the Romanian team included tennis player Horia Tecău and his new partner Florin Mergea (both world no. 3) in the men's doubles, Russian-born freestyle wrestler Albert Saritov, handball team captain Aurelia Brădeanu, and coxswain and former gymnast Daniela Druncea of the women's eight rowing crew. Fourteen-year-old swimmer Ana-Iulia Dascăl, who entered the Games through a universality invitation, was Romania's youngest competitor, with race walker Claudia Ștef rounding out the lineup as the oldest member (aged 38).
| width=78% align=left valign=top |The following is the list of number of competitors who participated in the Games. Note that reserves in fencing, field hockey, football, gymnastics, handball and rowing are not counted as athletes: SportMenWomenTotalAthletics 6 16 22Boxing 1 0 1Cycling 1 0 1Fencing 1 5 6Gymnastics 2 2 4Handball 0 14 14Judo 1 3 4Rowing 6 11 17Shooting 1 0 1Swimming 5 1 6Table tennis 2 3 5Tennis 2 4 6Weightlifting 2 2 4Wrestling 4 1 5 Total 34 62 96
Athletics
Romanian athletes achieved qualifying standards in the following athletics events (up to a maximum of 3 athletes in each event):
A total of 18 athletes (six men and twelve women) were selected to the Romanian track and field team for the Games, including two-time Olympian Ancuța Bobocel (women's 3000 m steeplechase) and Athens 2004 silver medalist Marian Oprea (men's triple jump).
Track & road events Men AthleteEventFinalResultRankMarius IonescuMarathon2:17:2737Nicolae Soare2:31:53127Marius Cocioran50 km walk Narcis Mihăilă4:02:4630
Women AthleteEventHeatSemifinalFinalResultRankResultRankResultRankBianca Răzor400 m52.426did not advanceClaudia Bobocea800 m2:03.756 Did not advanceFlorina Pierdevară2:03.327 Did not advanceAncuța Bobocel3000 m steeplechase9:46.2813did not advanceBianca RăzorAnamaria IonițăAndrea MiklosAdelina Pastor4 × 400 m relay3:29.877did not advanceDaniela CârlanMarathoncolspan=4 Paula Todorancolspan=4 2:48.54101Andreea Arsine20 km walkcolspan=4 1:38:1645Ana Veronica Rodeancolspan=4 1:38:4250Claudia Ștefcolspan=4 1:41:4757
Field events AthleteEventQualificationFinalDistancePositionDistancePositionMarian OpreaMen's triple jump—did not advanceAndrei GagMen's shot put20.4013did not advanceAlina RotaruWomen's long jump6.4018did not advanceCristina BujinWomen's triple jump13.3830did not advanceElena Panțuroiu14.0016did not advance
Boxing
Romania entered one boxer to compete in the following weight classes into the Olympic boxing tournament. Mihai Nistor was the only Romanian finishing among the top two of his respective weight division in the AIBA Pro Boxing series.
AthleteEventRound of 32Round of 16QuarterfinalsSemifinalsFinalOppositionResultOppositionResultOppositionResultOppositionResultOppositionResultRankMihai NistorMen's super heavyweightL 1–2 Did not advance
Cycling
Road Romania qualified one rider in the men's Olympic road race by virtue of his top 200 individual ranking in the 2015 UCI Europe Tour.
AthleteEventTimeRankSerghei ȚvetcovMen's road race
Fencing
Romanian fencers qualified a full squad in the women's team épée by virtue of their top four national finish in the FIE Olympic Team Rankings. Meanwhile, 2012 Olympic silver medalist Tiberiu Dolniceanu secured a spot on the Romanian team in the men's sabre by finishing among the top 14 individual fencers in the FIE Adjusted Official Rankings. Foil fencer Mălina Călugăreanu rounded out the Romanian roster by finishing among the top four individuals at the European Zonal Qualifier in Prague, Czech Republic.
AthleteEventRound of 64Round of 32Round of 16QuarterfinalSemifinalFinal / OppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreRankTiberiu DolniceanuMen's sabreW 15–7W 15–13L 10–15did not advanceAna Maria BrânzăWomen's épéeW 15–8L 8–15did not advanceSimona GhermanL 10–13did not advanceSimona PopL 10–15did not advanceAna Maria BrânzăLoredana DinuSimona GhermanSimona PopWomen's team épéecolspan=2 W 24–23W 45–31W 44–38Mălina CălugăreanuWomen's foilL 12–15did not advance
Gymnastics
Artistic Romania did not send any all-around teams to the Olympics for the first time since 1968, despite Cătălina Ponor coming out of retirement. This ended the streak of winning a team medal in the event since 1976. Romania entered three artistic gymnasts into the Olympic competition. Four-time Olympic medalist Marian Drăgulescu claimed his Olympic spot in the men's apparatus and all-around events at the 2015 World Championships, while two more places were awarded to one Romanian male and female gymnast, who participated at the Olympic Test Event in Rio de Janeiro.
Men AthleteEventQualificationFinalApparatusTotalRankApparatusTotalRankAndrei MunteanAll-around13.73312.50013.70014.63315.466 Q13.83383.86536did not advanceParallel barscolspan=4 15.46615.4669 Qcolspan=4 15.60015.6006Marian DrăgulescuFloor12.800colspan=5 12.80067did not advanceVaultcolspan=3 15.283colspan=2 15.2835 Qcolspan=3 15.449colspan=2 15.4494Horizontal barcolspan=5 12.16612.16670did not advance
Women AthleteEventQualificationFinalApparatusTotalRankApparatusTotalRankCătălina PonorBalance beamcolspan=2 14.90014.9005 Qcolspan=2 14.00014.0007Floorcolspan=3 14.20014.20014did not advance
Rhythmic Romania qualified one rhythmic gymnast in the individual all-around for the Games by claiming one of eight available Olympic spots at the Olympic Test Event in Rio de Janeiro.
AthleteEventQualificationFinalHoopBallClubsRibbonTotalRankHoopBallClubsRibbonTotalRankAna Luiza FiliorianuIndividual16.85016.80016.80817.00067.45822 Did not advance
Handball
Summary
TeamEventGroup StageQuarterfinalSemifinalFinal / OppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreRankOppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreRankRomania women'sWomen's tournamentL 19–23L 13–26W 25–21W 24–21L 27–285did not advance9
Women's tournament
The Romanian women's handball team qualified for the Olympics by virtue of a top two finish at the second meet of the Olympic Qualification Tournament in Aarhus, Denmark.
Team roster
Group play
Judo
Romania qualified a total of four judokas for the following weight classes at the Games. Daniel Natea, Monica Ungureanu, London 2012 Olympian Andreea Chițu, and silver medalist Corina Căprioriu were ranked among the top 22 eligible judokas for men and top 14 for women in the IJF World Ranking List of 30 May 2016.
AthleteEventRound of 64Round of 32Round of 16QuarterfinalsSemifinalsRepechageFinal / OppositionResultOppositionResultOppositionResultOppositionResultOppositionResultOppositionResultOppositionResultRankDaniel NateaMen's +100 kgW 100–000L 000–110did not advanceMonica UngureanuWomen's −48 kgL 000–100did not advanceAndreea ChițuWomen's −52 kgW 101–000L 000–001Did not advanceL 010–100Did not advance7Corina CăprioriuWomen's −57 kgW 002–000W 100–000L 000–010L 000–0015
Rowing
Romania qualified a total of five boats for each of the following rowing classes into the Olympic regatta. Three rowing crews confirmed Olympic places for their boats at the 2015 FISA World Championships in Lac d'Aiguebelette, France, while the rowers competing in the women's lightweight double sculls and women's eight were further added to the Romanian roster as a result of their top two finish at the 2016 European & Final Qualification Regatta in Lucerne, Switzerland.
Men AthleteEventHeatsRepechageSemifinalsFinalTimeRankTimeRankTimeRankTimeRankGeorge Alexandru PălămariuCristi-Ilie PîrghiePair6:51.713 SA/Bcolspan=2 6:48.176 FB7:13.6812Vlad Dragoș AicoboaeMarius CozmiucConstantin AdamToader-Andrei GontaruFour6:02.564 R6:39.644did not advance
Women