Rareș Dumitrescu

Rareș Dumitrescu (; born 24 December 1983 in Brașov) is a Romanian sabre fencer, World silver medal in 2009. With the Romanian team he was European champion in 2006, World champion in 2009 and Olympic team silver medal in 2012.

Personal life

Dumitrescu discovered fencing at age ten by circumstance: his mother, a teacher, had a pupil whose father was a fencing coach. He began training at his local club CS Tractorul under Cătălin Albu, who also served as sparring partner in the absence of other sabre fencers in Brașov: the Olympic center was in Iași. He was again tempted to retire because he was tired of commuting between Brașov and Bucharest, but his former teammate Mihai Covaliu, now coach of the national team, persuaded him to go on. In the team event Romania created an upset by beating favourites Germany, France and Hungary to meet Italy in the final.