Octavian Vintilă

Prior to his lengthy career as a sports commentator Octavian Vintilă was active in fencing as both a competitor and a referee. Vintilă joined the Steaua București club in Romania and became the national sabre champion in 1968 and 1969. He competed in the individual and team sabre events at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, finishing seventh in the latter. At the 1972 München Olympics he just missed out on a medal when he finished fourth in the team event. Following his retirement from active competition Vintilă became an international fencing referee, officiating in several international tournaments including at the Olympics in Montréal and Moskva. From 1975 to 2000 he also served as the Vice-President of the Romanian Fencing Federation. Vintilă will probably be best remembered for his work as a sports commentator for Radio România Actualități. During his career he reported on six editions of the Olympics, starting with the 1976 Montréal Games. Towards the end of his career Vintilă was the President of the Romanian Sports Press Association from 2006 to 2011.