1. Ivan Patzaichin took part in all major competitions between 1968 and 1984, including five consecutive Olympics, and won seven Olympic and 22 world championship medals, including four Olympic gold medals.
10 Facts About Ivan Patzaichin
1. 2.
Ivan Patzaichin later worked as a canoeing coach, attending five more Olympics in this capacity.
3.
Ivan Patzaichin's father Vicol was a fisherman and his mother Alexandra was a dressmaker.
4.
Ivan Patzaichin took up canoeing at an early age inspired by his grandfather, and decided to pursue a canoeing career after watching a television broadcast of two canoers from his village, more specifically Vicol Calabiciov and Serghei Covaliov, winning the 1966 world title in doubles.
5.
At the 1972 Olympics, Ivan Patzaichin broke his paddle and placed last in the singles heats.
6.
Ivan Patzaichin eventually won the repechage and the final race.
7.
Ivan Patzaichin owned his own line of clothing made from natural products.
8.
In 1976, Ivan Patzaichin married Georgiana, a woman he met in August 1975.
9.
Ivan Patzaichin was involved in an animation project in 2020, dubbing into Romanian the character Scroop in the Disney movie Treasure Planet.
10.
Ivan Patzaichin died on 5 September 2021, aged 71, in Bucharest, after having been hospitalized for three months with lung cancer.