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Sports Minister Eduard Novak declared himself impressed with the gold medal won by teen swimmer David Popovici on Monday at the World Aquatics Championships in Budapest.
''Quite a phenomenon, this athlete! All hearts in Romania beat in his chest today and gave him strength! David Popovici is our first senior world champion in a men's event, a new record setter with a time of 1 min 43.21 seconds. I sent him my congratulations and told him how proud we are of him! Thank you, David! Congratulations, you are just starting to write history in swimming! You have many pages of glory ahead. Congratulations to all those who are close to you and help you fly!,'' Novak wrote on Facebook.
17-year-old Romanian swimmer David Popovici on Monday evening won the gold medal in the men's 200m freestyle event at the World Swimming Championships in Budapest, clocking in at 1 min 43.21 seconds.
Popovici broke his own junior world record set in Sunday's semifinals (1 min 44.40 seconds). The young athlete of the Bucharest Dinamo Sports Club had managed the best time in the men's heats on Sunday morning, 1 min 45.18 sec.
