Dragoş Coman is an international freestyle

Freestyle swimming

Freestyle is an unregulated swimming style used in swimming competitions according to the rules of FINA. The front crawl stroke is almost universally used during a freestyle race, as this style is generally the fastest...

 swimmer from Romania

Romania

Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

, who represented his native country at two consecutive Summer Olympics, starting in 2000

Swimming at the 2000 Summer Olympics

At the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, 32 swimming events were contested, between September 15–23, 2000. There was a total of 954 participants from 150 countries competing.-Medal table:-Men:...

 in Sydney, Australia.

A year earlier, at the European LC Championships 1999

European LC Championships 1999

The European Long Course Championships 1999 were held in Istanbul, Turkey from Monday 26 July to Sunday 1 August, in the 50 m pool of the Ataköy Olympic Pool Stadium...

 in Istanbul

Istanbul

Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...

, he won his first medal: a silver one at the 1500 m freestyle. He also won the bronze medal at the 2003 World Championships in Barcelona, in the 400 m freestyle,only being surpassed by Thorpe and Hackett. He is Romania's top swimmer in the 400 and 1500 m freestyle races, winning European Junior gold medals, and proving his value in the future European and world championships. Also he is titleholder in both 400 and 1500 m freestyle, at the World Military Games, winning medals at every edition