Nicolae Juravschi (or Nikolai Juravski) (born August 8, 1964) is a Moldova

Moldova

Moldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked state in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the West and Ukraine to the North, East and South. It declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the preceding Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991, as part...

n sprint canoer

Canoe racing

This article discusses canoe sprint and canoe marathon, competitive forms of canoeing and kayaking on more or less flat water. Both sports are governed by the International Canoe Federation ....

, who won three Olympic medals in the C-2 event with his teammate Viktor Reneysky

Viktor Reneysky

Viktor Iosifovich Reneysky , born January 24, 1967 in Babruysk, is a sprint canoer from Belarus who won three Olympic medals for the USSR and Moldova in the C-2 event with his teammate Nikolaï Juravschi. He also won a total of nine world titles, more than any other Canadian canoe paddler of his...

. In Soviet time Juravschi trained at the Armed Forces sports society

Armed Forces (sports society)

Central Sports Klub of the Army or is the Russian sports society and the successor of the Soviet CSKA.-Overview:The society was one of the largest sports societies in the USSR. In the Soviet era all CSKA and SKA teams that resided in the Soviet Union belonged to the Armed Forces sports society...

 in Kishinev.

The pair won two gold medals at the 1988 Summer Olympics

1988 Summer Olympics

The 1988 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad, were an all international multi-sport events celebrated from September 17 to October 2, 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. They were the second summer Olympic Games to be held in Asia and the first since the 1964 Summer Olympics...

, as competitors for the USSR. In the next three years Juravschi won a total of eight world championship gold medals in the C-2 and C-4 events.

Despite this success Reneysky and Juravschi were not selected for the 1992 Olympics

1992 Summer Olympics

The 1992 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event celebrated in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, in 1992. The International Olympic Committee voted in 1986 to separate the Summer and Winter Games, which had been held in the same...

, having been defeated in the trials. Juravski was invited to represent 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...

 instead and reached two finals

Canoeing at the 1992 Summer Olympics

The canoeing competition at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona was composed of 16 events in two disciplines, slalom and sprint. The slalom events returned to the Olympic program after a 20 year absence, since the 1972 Munich Games...

.

He then returned to the now independent Moldova and in 1995 persuaded his former partner Reneysky, from Belarus

Belarus

Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...

, to join forces once more and represent Moldova at the 1996 Olympics. The silver medal they won in the Atlanta games

Canoeing at the 1996 Summer Olympics

The canoeing competition at the 1996 Summer Olympics was composed of 16 events in two disciplines, slalom and sprint...

was Moldova's first-ever Olympic medal as an independent nation.

Juravski is now president of the Moldovan Olympic Committee and the Moldovan Canoe-Kayak Federation.