The Olympic norms are a special section of the National Columbofil Championship of Romania. These are achieved by fulfilling the records in the most important categories of competition, plus three other special categories, and the pigeons that succeed are part of the “Olympic team” of Romania. They represent our country at international pigeon events, the Pigeon Olympics and the Central and Eastern European Cup, and most of the times they return home with prizes. We set out to evaluate this distinct part of the racing pigeons sport in Romania, starting with the 2017 season, and at the end to draw some conclusions. Very important to mention is that we will analyze the first five places of the Olympic standings, giving the following score: 1st place, 5 points; 2nd place, 4 points; 3rd place, 3 points; 4th place, 2 points, and 5th place, 1 point. In the end, depending on how many Olympians each province had and their place in the ranking, we will make a ranking.

As provided by the National Regulations, there are eight Olympic categories: Category A – Short distance ​​Palmares 2 years, the norm of the category is realized from 10 (ten) stages, organized on weekends designated for this category, short distance-middle distance, having a distance between 95 and 420 km; Category B – Middle distance Palmares 2 years, the norm of the category is realized from 8 (eight) stages, organized on weekends designated for middle-distance category, middle distance-long distance, between 285 and 630 km; Category C – Long distance Palmares 2 years, the norm of the category is realized from 6 (six) stages, organized on weekends designated for the long distance category, over 475 km each; Category D, All-round Palmares 2 years, the norm of the category is realized from 11 (eleven) stages of choice, thus: 3-5 stages between 95 – 420 km, 2 – 6 stages between 285 – 630 km, 1 – 3 stages over 475 km, totaling at least 3600 km; Category E – Extreme long distance Palmares 2 years, the norm of the category is achieved from 4 (four) stages, organized on weekends designated for the marathon, with a distance over 760 km; Category F – Young birds, the norm of the category is achieved from 3 (three) stages over 100 km; Category G – Yearlings, the norm of the category is achieved from 5 (five) stages over 100 km; Categor H – Old birds, the norm is realized from 6 (six) stages over 300 km.

Province of Muntenia

In the 2017, 2018 and 2019 seasons, the province of Muntenia has the most Olympic pigeons, 42 in total, ranked from 1st place to 5th place. In the first competitive year, 2017, the pigeons from the province of Muntenia occupied the following places in the Olympic ranking of Romania: 1, 3 and 4 Category A, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 Category B, 1 and 5 Category F, 1 and 2 Category G, 1 and 5 Category H. In 2018, the province of Muntenia had the following Olympic venues: 4 Category A, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Category B, 5 Category E, 3 and 5 Category F, 4 Category G, 4 and 5 Category H.Last year, from this province were the following Olympics: 4 Category A, 2, 3 and 5 Category B, 2 and 4 Category C, 3 Category D, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Category F, 2 Category G and 1 , 2 and 5 Category H.

Province of Transylvania

The next province as number of Olympic pigeons in the national top 5 for the last three years is Transylvania, with 25 appearances. In 2017, the fanciers from here obtained the following places in the national ranking of the Olympics: 2 Category A, 1, 2 and 4 Category D, 2 and 3 Category F, 4 Category H. One year later, they occupied the following places: 2, 3 and 5 Category A, 1 and 3 Category C, 2, 3 and 5 Category D, 1 and 4 Category F, 2, 3 and 5 Category G and 1 Category H. Last year, the fanciers from Transylvania occupied the following Olympic places: 3 Categories A, 4 Category B, 5 Category D, 5 Category G.

West Province

Very close to the province of Transylvania as the number of Olympic pigeons is ranked the Western province, with 24 appearances in the national top 5 of the Olympic ranking. In 2017, the pigeons in this area occupied the following places: 1 and 3 Category C, 5 Category D, 3 Category E, 3, 4 and 5 Category G and 2 Category H. In 2018: 1 Category A, 5 Category C, 1 and 4 Category D, 1 Category E, 1 Category G and 2 and 3 Category H. Last year, in the same ranking, they occupied the following places: 1 Category A , 1 Category B, 1, 2 and 4 Category D, 1 Category E, 5 Category G and 3 Category H.

Province of Oltenia

Oltenia is the fourth province in number of Olympic pigeons over the last three years. They were classified in the following places: 5 Category A, 4 Category C, 3 Category D, 1 and 2 Category E and 3 Category H, in 2017; 4 Category C, 2 Category E, 2 Category F, in 2018; 2 and 5 Category A, 1 Category C, 3 Category E, 1 and 3 Category G and 4 Category H, in 2019.

Province of Moldova

Fanciers from the province of Moldova appear 12 times among the first five ranked in the Olympic ranking: 2 and 3 Category C, 4 and 5 Category E and 5 Category F, in 2017; 2 Category C, 3 and 4 Category E, in 2018; 3 and 5 Category C and 2 and 4 Category E, in 2019.

Conclusions:

Muntenia is the province with the most Olympians, clearly dominating several Olympic categories. For example, out of 15 possible places in the last three years in Category B, 13 of them were occupied by pigeons from this province. In the F and D categories, again, the Olympic pigeons from Muntenia obtained important Olympic norms, of which all the five places of the two categories last season. As such, we can say that Muntenia holds the supremacy of the Olympic categories B, D and F for the last three years. Fanciers from the province of Transylvania managed to have good performances in almost all the Olympic categories. Four times they were ranked 1st in this ranking, in different categories, and there were categories that were several times among the first five. However, Category E is missing, but we know that Transylvania is a difficult area for Extreme long distances races.

The Western Province is a specialist on C, D and E, but with good developments in the other Olympic categories also. Regarding Category E, the one dedicated to the marathon, the western pigeons had the best performance for the total analysis. The Province of Oltenia, with 16 appearances in the top 5 national Olympic games in the last three years, is found in almost all categories, except Category B. Among them, the pigeons from Oltenia were ranked three times in the first place and several times in top 3 of the competition. Moldova, the fifth province as number of Olympics, is only in the ranking of categories C and E, where it was placed on the podium or close to it, but never in the 1st place. The ranking of the provinces is as follows:

1. Muntenia: 121 points (46/2017 + 27/2018 + 48/2019 = 121)
2. West: 82 points (22/2017 + 30/2018 + 30/2019 = 82)
3. Transylvania: 75 points (24/2017 + 44/2018 + 7/2019 = 75)
4. Oltenia: 51 points (18/2017 + 10/2018 + 23/2019 = 51)
5. Moldova: 28 points (9/2017 + 9/2018 + 10/2019 = 28)