Leon Rotman

Leon Rotman (born July 22, 1934 in Bucharest, is a Romanian canoeist and Olympic champion who competed in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Life and sporting career

Born to a working-class Jewish family, he took up several sports in the years immediately after World War II and was fascinated by canoeing after seeing the famous Czech champions Jan Brzák-Felix and Bohumil Kudrna compete on Lake Snagov near Bucharest in 1953. He joined the Dinamo Bucharest sports club, in the hope of getting one of the Czech-made canoes left by the two in Romania. He didn't, but he was remarked by famous coach Radu Huţan after becoming national champion in improvised canoes. He would eventually compete at the Olympics on the first canoe ever made in Romania (at the factories in Reghin, Mureş County.At the 1956 Summer Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia, despite competing with a sprained ankle, he won both the C-1 10000 m and the C-1 1000 m events, equaling Swede Gert Fredriksson's performance who, at the same Olympics, won gold in both individual kayak events. He went on to win bronze at the 1960 Summer Olympic Games in Rome in the C-1 1000m event.He was slightly less successful in other competitions (5th in the 1957 and 1961 European Championships in C1-1000, 7th in the 1963 World Championship in C-1 10000). He won however the Snagov Regatta 7 times and 6 international regattas outside Romania. He won 14 national titles. He retired at the end of 1963.

References

*"Cu sportivii romani la Melbourne", Editura UCFS, Bucuresti, 1957. ro icon
*"Horia Alexandrescu, Aur olimpic romanesc", Editura Sport-Turism, Bucuresti, 1979 ro icon
* [http://www.olympic.org/uk/athletes/results/search_r_uk.asp 1956 Canoe/Kayak Flatwater medalists on the IOC website]
* [http://www.rof.ro/index.php?page=23 Romanian Canoe and Kayak olympic medalists' biographies on the Romanian Olympic Foundation website] ro icon
* [http://www.kaiac.ro/istoric/debut_ro.html History of Canoe/Kayak in Romania on the FRKC website] ro icon