page_title: Sport in Romania
section_title: Olympics
hierarchical_section_title: Sport in Romania / Olympics
caption_attribution_description: English: Mumbai Marathon 2008 - Brand Ambassadors: Gabriela Szabo.
context_page_description: Sport in Romania are an important part of the country's culture. Romania has risen to prominence in a number of sporting areas in recent decades. Association football is the most popular sport in Romania, a nation of 20 million. The most successful club is Steaua Bucharest, who were the first Eastern European side to win the European Cup and the European Supercup in 1986. Romania is one of only four national teams from Europe that took part in the first World Cup in 1930. The Romania national football team has taken part in seven FIFA World Cups and had its most successful run during the 1990s, when they reached the quarterfinals of the 1994 FIFA World Cup, losing to Sweden in the penalty shootout. Romania was ranked third by FIFA in 1997.
  Other popular sports include handball, volleyball, basketball, rugby union, tennis, and gymnastics. Many Romanian athletes have achieved significant success and have won World and European championships in numerous sports during the years. Romania participated in the Olympic Games for the first time in 1900 and has taken part in 21 of the 28 summer games.
context_section_description: Maybe slightly surprising for a country of its size, Romania has been one of the most successful countries in the history of the Summer Olympic Games  (15th overall) with a total of 307 medals won throughout the years, 89 of which are gold medals.  Romania has appeared in 21 of the 28 Summer Olympic Games. The nation debuted at the 1900 Summer Olympics, appeared again three times between the World Wars, and has competed at every event since the 1952 Summer Olympics.
caption: Gabriela Szabo, Olympic and World long-distance running champion and the 1999 European and World Athlete of the Year.[7]
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