Mihai Covaliu

Mihai Claudiu Covaliu (born 5 November 1977 in Brașov) is a Romanian retired sabre fencer, Olympic champion in 2000 and world champion in 2005, and coach of the Romanian men's sabre team. He is also ex-president of the Romanian Fencing Federation and, from 2016, president of the Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee.

Personal life Covaliu's first sport was football. He began fencing at age nine, after coaches from CS Tractorul Brașov presented the sport to his school. His mother encouraged him to persevere despite the harsh training methods used at the time. In 2000 at the 2000 Summer Olympics he created a surprise by reaching the final, beating medal prospect Damien Touya of France along the way. Covaliu then disposed of Mathieu Gourdain 15–12 to earn the first Romanian gold medal in sabre and become number one in FIE rankings. For this performance he was named Master Emeritus in sport and commander of the Order For Merit. He dedicated his medal to his son Vlad, born a day before the departure for Leipzig. Despite having always beaten Lopez before, Covaliu was defeated 15–13 after leading 11–7 in the last period of the bout. He then met another Frenchman, Julien Pillet, and won 15–11 to earn the bronze medal. Cosmin Hănceanu and Romania earned the silver at the 2010 World Fencing Championships in Paris, and Romania finished second in the London 2012 Summer Olympics. He remained the coach of the men's sabre team, who earned the silver at the 2013 World Fencing Championships in Budapest, Tiberiu Dolniceanu finishing at the third place in the individual event. The same year, Covaliu was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the International Fencing Federation.