Career
Born to an ethnic Ukrainian family of fishermen from the Danube Delta, he started fishing and paddling in a fisherman’s boat at the age of 6. During World World War II he worked as an apprentice sailor on various types of river patrolboats, along with other boys in the area. After the war, he joined the Communist-inspired “Youth building sites” at Salva-Vişeu and Bumbeşti-Livezeni, after which he did his compulsory military service.While working and while in the military, he learned to play rugby and was quite talented at lieutenant
After being de-mobilised, he joined Dinamo Bucharest’s rugby team, where he played for a few months.
Dinamo’s canoeing coach Radu Huţan, hearing about his fisherman and paddling past, persuaded him to switch to canoeing, to which Ismailciuc would devote the rest of his life. His outstanding talent, exceptional working capacity and his life experience soon turned him into Huţan’s genuine, albeit unpaid, assistant coach.
Fascinated by Ismailciuc’s Danube Delta stories, Huţan sent him on various scouting missions there, resulting in a series of talented youngsters from that area (of various ethnic backgrounds) rising rather quickly to canoeing glory (a trend which would continue over the following decades). The two of them competed in the C-2 events in the 1956 Summer Olympics.
Some liver complaints by Ismailciuc prevented them being placed higher than fifth in the C-2 10000 m event.
However, Romanian coaches were unable to decide between the two, so both were part of the Romanian Olympic delegation in Rome. The on-site test races on Lake Albano showed Rotman was faster and allowed to represent Romania at those games. Simion Ismailciuc then coached for Dinamo Bucharest up to his old age retirement and, for the rest of his life, remained a valuable advisor to numerous Romanian world class canoeists and coaches.
He died in 1986 in the house he had built for himself on the shore of Lake Snagov near Bucharest.
