Mihai Timu was a colonel in the Romanian Armed Forces and the head of the equestrian section of the Steaua București club. A winner of seven Romanian titles in equestrian (five individual and two team), he was a member of the Romanian eventing team selected for the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. He later became involved as a coach and trainer in the 1950s and 1960s, including at the 1960 Olympics in Roma. He was killed in a motor vehicle accident alongside fellow Romanian equestrian Olympian Gheorghe Langa in 1968.