Octavian Zidaru

Octavian Zidaru
Zidaru at the 2014 European Fencing Championships
Personal information
Full name	Octavian Petru Zidaru
Country represented	Romania
Born	(1953-10-17) 17 October 1953 (age 63) Bucharest, Romania
Weapon(s)	épée
Hand	right-handed
Height	1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)
Weight	80 kg (180 lb; 13 st)
Club	CSA Steaua București

Octavian Zidaru (born 17 October 1953) is a Romanian fencer and coach.

Zidaru took up fencing in 1967 at his school sports club, CSS Triumf, and later joined CSA Steaua București. He first studied economics at the Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies. He holds a Ph.D in sports science from the Faculty of Physical Education and Sports of the University of Bucharest.

As a sportsman, he became national champion of Romania in 1975, and was vice-champion in 1978, 1980, and 1982. He also won eleven gold medal in the team championship for Steaua and the Cupa României in 1982. He competed in the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. He ranked only 26th in the individual épée event, but reached the semi-finals in the team event for Romania with Ioan Popa, Anton Pongratz, Costică Bărăgan, and Petru Kuki. The team was eventually defeated by Russia and missed the podium. He was awarded in 1977 the title of master in sports (Maestru al Sportului) and in 1982 the title of master emeritus in sports (Maestru Emerit al Sportului).

After his retirement as a fencer he became a coach at CSA Steaua and trained amongst others Cornel Milan and the 1986 world silver medal Miklós Bodoczi. He is now an international coach for the International Fencing Federation, member of the executive committee of the European Fencing Confederation and technical director of the Romanian Fencing Federation. He takes an active part in the development of fencing worldwide, giving training courses in Jordania in 2004 and 2008, and supervising the Dakar international School for fencing masters from 2005 to 2008. He also held in 2012 the first fencing coaching course specifically dedicated to women.