Pine-Richland Crew

Florin Curuea

Head Coach

Florin started his rowing career in 1996 at the age of 14, at the CSS 3 Steaua Bucharest under the guide of Marlena Zagoni, a bronze medal winner at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow. In March of 1997, Florin earned his first Romanian National title in the Men's JV 4x. In May of the same year, he was selected to be a member of the Romanian Junior National Team. Florin concluded his career as part of the Romanian Junior National Team in 1999, earning 10 medals at the Romanian National Championships and 3 international medals. As the top of it all was Florins attendance at the World Junior Championship in Linz Austria in 1998, and again in Plovdiv Bulgaria in 1999, where he won the bronze medal in the Men's Junior 8+.

From September 1999 through August of 2004, Florin was an active member of the Romanian Olympic Team, and also a member of the Sport Army Club in Steaua Bucharest. During this period, Florin also completed his studies at the University of Physical Education and Sports (Bacau) with a bachelors degree. During this period, Florin attended four world championship competitions. He gained his first world championship title in 2002 in Genoa, Italy in the Men's 4- event, and defended his title in Belgrade in 2003.

In 2004, Florin was honored to compete in the Men's 8+ with aspirations of the Olympic Games, to be held in Athens. The season was off to a great start, with a win at the World Cup Regatta, but the team ended up missing the qualification regatta by .63 seconds. Florin resumed his studies and earned his master's degree in Physical Education and Sports from the University of Physical Education and Sports (Bacau).

In 2006, Florin decided to pursue his interest in coaching, and share his knowledge gained during his 16 years of rowing and studies. Florin ended his rowing career with a total of 44 medals. That list is topped by two gold medals at the World Championships, and nineteen gold medals at the Romanian National Championship.