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Romanian swimmer David Popovici won the Piotr Nurowski Prize for 2021, after being voted on Thursday evening as the best young athlete on the continent in Olympic sports, at the General Assembly of the European Olympic Committees in Samorin, Slovakia, the Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee (COSR) announces on its Facebook page.
Popovici (17 years old) was voted by the 50 national Olympic committees on the continent, being supported by the president of COSR, Mihai Covaliu.
David Popovici won in 2021 a gold medal at the European Senior Championships in the short pool (25 meters), three gold medals at the European Junior Championships, broke two world junior records in the 100 m and 200 m free race and obtained a 4th place at the OG 2020 in Tokyo, in the 100 m free race.
Popovici (CS Dinamo) won the duel with four other athletes, who thus ranked behind Sky Brown from Great Britain (skateboarding), Adriana Cerezo Iglesias from Spain (taekwondo), Viktoria Listunova from Russia (artistic gymnastics) and Adriana Vilagos from Serbia (athletics).
David Popovici secured a training scholarship of 15,000 euros, the second place being rewarded with 8,000 euros, and the third with 5,000 euros, and the other two nominated athletes grabbed 3,000 euros each.
The award was created in memory of former Polish Olympic Committee President Piotr Nurowski, who tragically died in 2010 in a plane crash. This prize is awarded annually for sports of summer and, separately, for winter sports. This was the 10th edition of the Piotr Nurowski Trophy for the summer disciplines. In 2012, gymnast Larisa Iordache ranked second in the preferences of those who voted.
