![]() Morariu at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Birth name | Octavian Morariu | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Date of birth | 7 August 1961 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Place of birth | Bucharest, Romania [1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 6 ft 4 in (193 cm) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 216 lb (98 kg) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
School | Gheorghe Lazăr National College | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
University | Facultatea de Căi ferate, Drumuri și Poduri [2] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Notable relative(s) | Viorel Morariu (father) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Occupation(s) | Mechanical engineer | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Octavian Morariu (born 7 August 1961) is a Romanian former rugby union player and coach, and is currently the President of Rugby Europe.
He is the son of former Romania rugby union international Viorel Morariu and Cornelia Timoșanu a former volleyball player for Romania, which finished second at the 1956 FIVB Volleyball World Championship in France. [3] Morariu played as a Number Eight for Rugby Club Grivița Roșie as a youth. He played in France for ASPTT Paris and was also invited to play for the Barbarians. He earned 2 caps for Romania, from 1984 to 1985 without scoring. [4]
From 2001 to 2003, Morariu was president of the Romanian Rugby Federation, and from 2004 to 2014 president of the Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee. Since 2013, Morariu has served as the President of Rugby Europe, the governing body for rugby union in Europe. He was unanimously reelected for a second term in 2016. [5]
In 2013, Morariu became a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), he was a member of the International Relations Commission from 2014-2015 an is since 2015, a member of the Public Affairs and Social Development through Sport Commission. [6]
World Rugby is the governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international competitions, such as the World Rugby Sevens Series, the Rugby World Cup Sevens, the World Under 20 Championship, and the Pacific Nations Cup.
Rugby union has been a men's medal sport at the modern Summer Olympic Games, being played at four of the first seven competitions. The sport debuted at the 1900 Paris games where the gold medal was won by the host nation. It was subsequently featured at the London games in 1908, the Antwerp games in 1920 and the Paris games in 1924.
The Romania national rugby union team, nicknamed Stejarii, has long been considered one of the stronger European teams outside the Six Nations. They have participated in all but one Rugby World Cup and currently compete in the first division of the European Nations Cup, which they won in 2017. Rugby union in Romania is administered by the Romanian Rugby Federation.
The International Volleyball Federation commonly known by the acronym FIVB. Is the international governing body for all forms of volleyball. Its headquarters are located in Lausanne, Switzerland, and its current president is Fabio Azevedo of Brazil.
Octavian Ioan Atanase Bellu is the current head of the Romanian national women's artistic gymnastics team.
The Romanian Rugby Federation, abbreviated as FRR, is the governing body for the sport of rugby union in Romania. Romania currently comprises 24,610 players, 9,810 members of which are registered and 113 clubs in the whole country.
Viorel Morariu was a former Romanian rugby union flanker. He was one of the best Romanian rugby players of his generation.
Rugby union in France is a popular team sport. Rugby union was first introduced in the early 1870s by British residents, which makes the country one of the few early exponents of the sport. Elite French clubs participate in the professional domestic club league, the Top 14. Clubs also compete in the European knock-out competition, the European Rugby Champions Cup, which replaced the Heineken Cup from 2014 to 2015.
Sport in Romania is 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.
The most popular sport in Russia is soccer. According to Yandex search analysis results rating of the most popular sports among Russians: "Football topped the list of the most popular sports in Russia" with 5 to 10 million requests. Ice hockey came in second with handball, basketball, futsal, boxing, auto racing, volleyball, athletics, tennis, and chess rounding out the top ten rankings. Other popular sports include bandy, biathlon, figure skating, weightlifting, gymnastics, wrestling, martial arts, rugby union, and skiing.
Rugby union in Belgium is a growing sport. The national governing body for rugby union in Belgium is the Belgian Rugby Federation. The national team plays in the European Nations Cup, and as of October 2014, they were ranked thirtieth in the World Rugby Rankings.
The Algeria national rugby union team represents the Algerian Rugby Federation (FAR) in men's international rugby union. The first match they competed in was on 24 February 2007, in a game in Tunis against the Tunisia national rugby union team. While almost all current national team players play for clubs in the French championship, there are some national players who practice the sport in Australia, New Zealand, Romania and England. The first coach of the Algeria national rugby union team was Morad Kellal.
Rugby union in Morocco is a significant and popular sport.
Sport in Azerbaijan has ancient roots, and even now, both traditional and modern sports are still practiced. Freestyle wrestling has been traditionally regarded as Azerbaijan's national sport and today, the most popular sports in Azerbaijan are combat sports, football and chess. Other popular sports are gymnastics, judo, futsal, weightlifting, and boxing. Azerbaijan's mountainous terrain provides great opportunities for the practice of sports like skiing and rock climbing. Water sports are practiced on the Caspian Sea and in inland waters. Competitively, Azerbaijan has been very successful at chess, weightlifting, and wrestling at the international level. Azerbaijan is also an active member of the international sports community, with full membership in the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA), Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), European Athletics Association (EAA), International Olympic Committee (IOC), among many others. It has also hosted the first European Games and 2017 Islamic Solidarity Games.
The 2013 European Youth Olympic Winter Festival was an international multi-sport event held between 17 and 22 February 2013, in Braşov, Romania, with some of the events also held in Râșnov, Predeal and Fundata. It was the 11th edition of the European Youth Olympic Winter Festival.
Octavian Țîcu is a Moldovan politician, historian, and former professional boxer serving as a Member of Parliament in Moldova since 2019. He was Ministry of Youth and Sport in 2013.
The Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee is responsible for Romania's participation in the Olympic Games.
The Romanian-language surname Morariu literally meaning "miller" may refer to:
The women's rugby sevens tournament at the 2020 Summer Olympics was held in Japan. It was hosted at Tokyo Stadium, which also served as a host stadium of the 2019 Rugby World Cup. The tournament was played over three days from 29–31 July 2021.
Luc Tardif is a Canadian-born French ice hockey executive, and former professional ice hockey player. A native of Trois-Rivières, he played junior ice hockey in Quebec, then was an all-star player for the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières. During his professional career, he became a naturalized citizen of France, won two Nationale A League titles, and won the Charles Ramsay Trophy four times with Chamonix HC as the league's top scorer. Later in his career, he was a player-coach for the Dragons de Rouen, then served as the team's vice-president and oversaw the youth hockey program.