Cornel Penu

Who is Cornel Penu?

Cornel Penu is a former Romanian handball player who competed in the 1972 Summer Olympics and in the 1976 Summer Olympics. He is a double world champion.

He started playing handball in his hometown in 1958, and after becoming a universuty student in Galați he played for Știința Galați. He graduated in 1968 from the Machine Construction Technology Department of the Galați University. The same year he transferred to Dinamo Bucharest, where he stays until 1980, when he retires from active play. After that he held several coaching positions: goalkeeping coach for the Romanian men's national team, at Dinamo Bucharest, H.C.M. Constanţa, A.S.A Buzău, Morocco, France.

In 1972, he won the bronze medal with the Romanian team. He played all six matches as goalkeeper. In 1976, he won the silver medal as part of the Romanian team. He played all five matches as goalkeeper.

In 1974, at the World Championship, he was named "Best Goalkeeper". Between 1974 and 1978 he was selected to play in three games as a member of the World Team.

All in all, he played 266 games fro the national team.

He left Romania in 1993 to work in Morocco, and as of 2012 he was living in France.