Ion Cernea was a member of the Romanian national wrestling team for a decade, from 1955 through 1965. During that time he had his greatest victory in 1965 when he became the world champion in the bantamweight, Greco-Roman division, a category in which he had been runner-up in 1961, behind Oleg Karavayev of the Soviet Union. In 1962, he was fifth at the Worlds. He was also successful in his two Olympic appearances, taking silver behind Karavayev in 1960 and bronze behind Japan’s Masamitsu Ichiguchi and Vladlen Trostyansky of the Soviet Union in 1964. After retiring from active competition, he worked as a coach and international referee.
Romania