The Romanian national bobsleigh team represents Romania in international bobsledding competitions.
The team made its debut with the five-man bobsleigh at the 1928 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz.
At the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble the Romanian selection won a historic bronze medal with the two-man bobsleigh team led by Ion Panțuru and Nicolae Neagoe, which is the only medal won by Romania at the Winter Olympics. At the same Olympics, Romania was also close to a bronze medal in the four-man competition, placing fourth.
History
Origins
The practice of bobsleigh in Romania dates back to around 1909, when sporting activity was limited to a few days a year, around the winter holidays; from 1910 "winter sports competitions" were organised, with modest participation. Until 1916, bobsleigh races were regularly held in Sinaia, along with sledging and skeleton races, but without precise rules. The first winner of a bobsleigh race in 1910 was N. Filiti, and the first winner of a multi-team race was a generic "Romanian Sports Club" (Cercul Sportiv Român). In 1911, the presence of women in bobsleighing was very active: competitions were organised in three events (two-woman bobsleigh, two-man bobsleigh and team competition of 2-5-6 persons), whose winners included Natalia Darvari (women), Jean Costinescu (men) and the mixed crew of the "Societatea Săniutza". In 1912, the competition programme was the same: in the women's category Mihaela Ghyka won, and in the men's category a (male) crew led by Mihaela Ghyka herself won.
In 1912, the Federation of Romanian Sports Societies (Federației Societăților de Sport din România - FSSR) was founded, within which a Winter Sports Commission was established, with the task of coordinating and promoting the practice of bobsleigh. In 1914, for the first time, a national inter-school bobsleigh competition was organised, which was won by the "Gh. Lazăr" High School in Bucharest. Also in 1914, a team of German tourists participated in the "National bobsleigh competition", coming third, while the competition was won by the team from the Evangelical School of Bucharest.
After World War I, bobbing activity was resumed from 1920, in localities such as Brașov, Râmnicu Vâlcea, Slatina, and Iași. Bobsledding was generally practised along mountain roads and on the ski slopes of Postăvaru and Poiana Brașov. In 1922, the first national winter sports championships were held: the bobsled championship was held in Sinaia, with the title in the "club teams" event going to the Râmnicu Vâlcea Centre, whose driver was Iorgu Arsenie. The rise of the bobsleigh began in 1923, when several competitions with prizes were held: the title of national champion went to the team of the Club "Colțea" from Bucharest. In 1924, the crew of the "Societatea Politehnica București" won.
International activity
The organisation of the 1924 Winter Olympics in Chamonix (France) aroused the interest of Romanian bobbists, but the lack of state funds to support participation in the Olympics was widely discussed in the press at the time. Iorgu Arsenie built a bobsleigh christened Avalanșa (avalanche) and together with Tita Rădulescu reached Chamonix, where they participated in the races with a borrowed bobsleigh (Bachmann type) and won three cups; however, they were unable to participate in the Olympic competition because the rules required the entire crew to be from the same country, a condition they were unable to meet. Iorgu Arsenie, as a representative of the Commission for the Constitution of the Fédération Internationale de Bobsleigh et de Tobogganing (FIBT) in Chamonix in 1924, obtained Romania's affiliation to this international sporting body.