Ion Țăranu

Ion Țăranu
Taranu in 1960
Personal information
Born14 March 1938 (1938-03-14) (age 86)
Turnu Măgurele, Romania[1]
Died2005 (aged 66–67)[2]
Height170 cm (5 ft 7 in)[1]
Sport
SportGreco-Roman wrestling
ClubDinamo Bucuresti[3]
Coached byDumitru Hatru
Medal record
Representing  Romania
Olympic Games
Bronze medal – third place 1960 Rome 79 kg
European Championships
Silver medal – second place 1967 Minsk 78 kg

Ion Taranu (14 March 1938 – 2005) was a Greco-Roman wrestler from Romania. He competed at the 1960, 1964 and 1968 Olympics and won a bronze medal in 1960.[1][4] He also won a silver medal at the 1967 European Championships[5] Domestically he collected 15 Romanian middleweight titles.[3]

Career

Taranu won his first national title in 1959, and next year qualified for the 1960 Olympics. His previous international experience consisted of two bouts against Hans Antonsson, both held in Bucharest. In Rome he unexpectedly defeated the Turkish world champion Kazim Ayvaz, but lost to Dimitar Dobrev and ended in a third place.[6][7][8][9] Next year he placed fourth at the 1961 World Championships after losing to Vasily Zenin.[1][10]

Taranu performed well at the 1964 Olympics, having no losses in his four matches, but he accumulated 6 penalty points in his draws against Matti Laakso and Anatoly Kolesov and ended in a fifth place.[1][11][12] In 1967 he won a silver medal at the European championships, but placed only sixth at the world championships held in Bucharest, after losing to Viktor Igumenov.[1][10]

Taranu retired from competitions after finishing fifth at the 1968 Summer Olympics.[1] He then studied at the National Academy of Physical Education and Sport in Bucharest, defending a PhD in 1971 and eventually becoming a professor there. He also coached wrestlers at Progresul Bucharest and Dinamo Bucharest.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Ion Ţăranu". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 14 December 2012. Retrieved 13 May 2012.
  2. ^ Ion Țăranu at Olympedia
  3. ^ a b Ion Taranu Archived 2 October 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Romanian Olympic Committee
  4. ^ Report: games of the Olympiad, Volume 17. United States Olympic Committee. 1961. p. 178. OCLC 23876652.
  5. ^ Taranu, Ion (ROU) Archived 5 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine. iat.uni-leipzig.de
  6. ^ "Ion Taranu". DatabseOlympics.com. Archived from the original on 25 October 2012. Retrieved 13 May 2012.
  7. ^ "Men's Middleweight (67.5 – 75 kg) Greco-Roman, Complete list of Olympic medalists for the Men's middleweight (67.5 kg – 75 kg) Greco-Roman". About.com, Olympics. Retrieved 13 May 2012.[permanent dead link‍]
  8. ^ "The XVII Olympiad, Rome 1960, Volume One". Archived from the original on 22 June 2006. Retrieved 13 May 2012.
  9. ^ "The XVII Olympiad, Rome 1960, Volume Two". Archived from the original on 22 June 2006. Retrieved 13 May 2012.
  10. ^ a b "Taranu, Ion". International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles. Retrieved 13 May 2012.
  11. ^ "The Games of the XVIII Olympiad, Tokyo, 1964, Volume One". Archived from the original on 22 June 2006. Retrieved 13 May 2012.
  12. ^ "The Games of the XVIII Olympiad, Tokyo, 1964, Volume Two". Archived from the original on 22 June 2006. Retrieved 13 May 2012.