Iosif Chirilă

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Iosif Chirilă (born 1983 in Constanţa) is a Romanian flatwater canoer. He is a current (2005) world and European champion in the Canadian canoe C4 500m.

In his debut season as a senior international, Chirilă won a silver medal at the 2004 European Championships in Poznań, Poland in the C4 1000m.

The same year he was a double gold winner at the European under-23 championship, taking gold medals in both the C4 500m and the two-man (C2) 500m with partner Andrei Cuculici.

In 2005 Chirilă won the first major titles of his senior career. In the C4 was assigned to the 500m boat and helped Romania retain their European title. The same crew of Chirilă / Popescu / Silviu Simioncencu / Loredan Popa then took the World Championship gold medal in Zagreb, Croatia.

Chirilă also reached two C2 finals in 2005, partnering former Olympic champion Florin Popescu. They finished seventh at the European Championships and fifth in the World Championships, both over 1000m.

Following Popescu's retirement, Chirilă is again partnering Cuculici for the 2006 season. At the 2006 European Championships, held in Račice, Czech Republic, the pair won the C2 500m bronze medal. At the World Championships in Szeged, Hungary, they finished outside the medals however, placing 7th (500m) and 8th (1000m).

He is a member of the Farul club in Constanţa.

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