Ion Panţuru

In 1968, together with brakesman Nicolae Neagoe, Ion Panţuru won Romania's first medal at the Winter Olympics - which remains the country's only medal through 2009. In Grenoble, Panţuru also finished fourth in the four-man bob, just a tenth away from a second medal. The following year, Panţuru claimed a silver medal at the World Championships in Lake Placid, with Focşeneanu as a brakeman. However, he lost this medal in an American car while hitchhiking to the airport. The medal was found in a basement thirty years later, and was returned to Panţuru. His last international medal was won at the 1973 World Championships, when Panţuru and Focşeneanu came third. Before becoming a bobsledder, Panţuru was also a decent football player, as a goalkeepr for Carpaţi Sinaia in Romania's second division.