The Western University of Timișoara, as the organizer of the UVT Liberty Marathon international competition, now in its seventh edition, has the particular joy of announcing the appointment, together with COSR, of the Ambassador of the 2024 edition, the Olympic champion and the multiple world champion in athletics Gabriela Szabo, declared the best athlete in Romania for ten years in a row.
Based on the partnership and collaboration agreement between COSR and UVT, in which COSR's role is confirmed to annually recommend sports personalities who will participate in the UVT Liberty Marathon, as representative figures of the sports movement in Romania, the Olympic champion Gabriela Szabo is to sign the UVT Liberty Marathon 2024 medals, given to the more than 4.000 participants of this year's edition.
The announcement of the new UVT Liberty Marathon Ambassador for the 2024 competition was occasioned by the organization of a press conference, held at the COSR headquarters by Mihai Claudiu Covaliu, COSR president, Marilen Gabriel Pirtea, UVT rector, together with Olympic champion Gabriela Szabo.
The rector of UVT, university professor dr. Marilen Gabriel Pirtea, appreciates the contribution made by the Olympic champion Gabriela Szabo to the prestige of the UVT marathon: "The new personality invested with the role of UVT Liberty Marathon Ambassador, for the 2024 edition, the well-known Olympic and world champion Gabriela Szabo, is a living example of the generic message that UVT proposes to the community: UVT Liberty Marathon established itself as a competition defined by the choices that they make us different, which make us unique and free, promoted through sport and health."
Olympic champion Gabriela Szabo said: “It is a happiness and an honor to be the image of such an important event for Timișoara. I accepted with great love because what could be more beautiful than for us, who come from great performance and have excelled in our sports areas, to go further among the people and tell them how important sport is, how it is wonderful to win, how beautifully you can develop through movement, how many friends you can make when you are involved in the sports phenomenon. After I retired from competitive activity many years ago in 2004, one of my most cherished projects was to get involved in the community as much as possible and promote sport as a healthy lifestyle. I realized, at that moment, that too few children come to sports and then I said that it is a mistake on our part to wait for children to come to sports. We realized that we have to go among them, to convince them to grow around us, or through our sport. So all those who are involved in the sports phenomenon, who want a healthy nation, are to be congratulated, considering that 63% of Romania's population does not practice any kind of sport. This means that we are a rather sedentary people, and then we, who are involved in the sports phenomenon, need to talk more about what sports and education through sports means. So I come with great love to Timișoara and to all the events to which I will be invited, in this wonderful phenomenon called sport"."Romanian sports champions are real models for society. The values they promote and transmit to everyone contribute to the harmonious development of any person, both physically and especially mentally. The Olympic Movement in Romania has been in existence for 110 years
a benchmark for Excellence, Friendship and Respect. We are glad that the Western University of Timișoara, a landmark of education in Romania and beyond, has chosen to convey the importance of movement and sport through the Olympic champions. Gabriela Szabo is one of the champions for whom the Olympic spirit helped her to reach the peak of performance, to be the best!", said Mihai Covaliu, president of the Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee.
2024 edition a UVT Liberty Marathon will take place on September 28-29, continuing an already confirmed tradition, that of a competition aimed at experienced runners, but also at young people or children at their first running experience. Signing up for one of the race categories allows each runner to meet the challenge they feel is most suitable: marathon (42km), half marathon (21km), marathon relay (42km), half marathon relay (21km), cross country (10.5km) and cross country (2km).
UVT Liberty Marathon has grown year by year, towards new competitive horizons. For 2024, the organizers aim to reach a new record of participants, with over 4.000 registrations, over 30.000 km of running in total, as befits a prestigious competition, important both for Timișoara and for the annual international circuit of marathons road.
