AGERPRES special correspondent, Adrian Tone, reports: The mirage of gold remains permanently topical. And if it is Olympic, it attracts even more. The Romanian rowers who took their medals in Vaires-sur-Marne, among the people, felt this on their own skin. In the center of Paris.

The giant Marian Florian Enache, the Olympic champion in the double rowing boat, is assaulted on the famous Parisian boulevard Champs-Elysees by all kinds of people who want a photo with him. Now he looks even more like the athlete he appreciates the most, Cristiano Ronaldo.

“I didn’t think that this was possible, to be received in such a manner. I’ve only seen something like this in football videos, in the places where Cristiano Ronaldo went and was received by the fans. I literally couldn’t sneak in. As I was taking the medal from my neck I could have moved forward properly, but as I stopped I was pushed by a lot of people to congratulate me, to take pictures with them. It was fantastic, it was a special experience. You don’t come across such opportunities every day. I don’t think I have a favourite place in Paris, because I didn’t walk around Paris, I didn’t have time. Paris is wonderful in its entirety. But, the most beautiful place for me is the track, the lake, it’s Vaires-sur-Marne,” Enache told AGERPRES.

His boatmate, Andrei Cornea, to whom he promised that “they will do a good job together”, said that from his point of view, the most beautiful part of Paris was able to see it very well, because it is around his neck, the gold medal.

Romanian rowing brought five medals at the Paris Olympics. and it can be said that it has done its duty. It has two gold medals through Andrei Cornea and Marian Enache in the men’s double sculls and the women’s eight-plus-one crew (Maria Magdalena Rusu, Roxana Anghel, Ancuta Bodnar, Maria Lehaci, Adriana Adam, Amalia Bere, Ioana Vrinceanu, Simona Radis, Victoria Stefania Petreanu) and three silver medals won by Ancuta Bodnar and Simona Radis in the women’s double sculls, by Ioana Vrinceanu and Roxana Anghel in the women’s double sculls and by Gianina van Groningen and Ionela Cozmiuc in the women’s double sculls – lightweight category.

On the Champs-Elysees people are eager to feel the medal. Is it hard? About how big is it? Could I touch it too? These are natural questions for a person who sees performance only on television and very rarely in a sports arena.

Ionela Cozmiuc has a silver medal in the women’s double sculls – lightweight category, along with Gianina van Groningen, and says she would be happy if she could repeat the experience in Paris in Romania too.

Ioana Vrinceanu and Roxana Anghel each have two medals around their necks, a gold medal in 8+1, and a silver medal in the women’s double sculls. They say that they felt overwhelmed by the emotion experienced on the streets of Paris, not being used to the attention of people.

I met Claudia in Paris, a Romanian living in a village in the south of France, because “it’s warmer than here”. She paid 240 euros for two tickets to watch the finals on August 1, together with her 12-year-old daughter.

“When I saw Simona Radis, I immediately said ‘I want my daughter to do the same sport as her,'” Claudia said. Her daughter also now practices rowing.

Since ancient times, people have been attracted to gold. After all, there is also the idea of Olympic medals, the most coveted being the one made of the most precious metal. And when people have the opportunity to touch it, they feel like champions for a few seconds. But the idea that should be rolled over and over again is that of Claudia, who already has “a gold of hers”, even if it is not yet transformed into a medal.