Background
He was born in Șibot, Alba County, Romania. His father, Dănilă Sârbu, soon got a job at the Tunari Sports Shooting Range, whose manager he became just after World World War World War II
He was born in Șibot, Alba County, Romania. His father, Dănilă Sârbu, soon got a job at the Tunari Sports Shooting Range, whose manager he became just after World World War World War II
His family moved to the Romanian capital of Bucharest when Iosif was 7 years old. This provided an opportunity for young Iosif to take up sports shooting in 1937,at the age of 12. Shortly afterwards, in the 1952 Summer Olympic Games in Helsinki, he wins the Small-bore Rifle 50 metres, Prone event, scoring an absolute world and Olympic record of 400 points.
This means he scored a maximum 10 points at every shot(there were 40 shots in total).
The very center is in fact a small dot inside the 10-point area. Arthur C. Jackson of the United States took bronze with 398 points.
Despite his declining eyesight, Iosif Sârbu took part in another two Olympics, finishing 5th in Melbourne, 1956 and 12th in Rome, 1960. He showed a tremendous bravery by switching to his left eye after the 1952 Olympics as the right eye, his aiming eye since childhood, was severely affected by the declining eyesight.
On 6 September 1964 he was found dead in his Bucharest home.
The circumstances of his death were never officially explained or confirmed, but it is widely believed that he committed suicide, after a medical verdict not only denied him participation in the 1964 Olympic games in Tokyo, but stated he would never be able to compete again, because of his eye condition. He is the first Romanian Olympic gold medalist and world record holder ever, in any discipline. The main sports shooting complex in Bucharest is named after him.
“In the big concert of sports, shooting is like (…) a sonata for solo violin.
Everything is clear and forceful. And the shooter is alone.
Alone with himself. Soccer’s trumpets are left far behind, beyond the wall of adolescence.
In shooting, everything is serious and profound…”(from Iosif Sârbu’s essay, “The Olympics of the Year 2000”, 1960).
Quotations:
“In the big concert of sports, shooting is like (…) a sonata for solo violin. Everything is clear and forceful. And the shooter is alone.
Alone with himself.
Soccer’s trumpets are left far behind, beyond the wall of adolescence. In shooting, everything is serious and profound…”(from Iosif Sârbu’s essay, “The Olympics of the Year 2000”, 1960).