Twenty years after NicolaeJuravschi and Victor Reneischi won Moldova’s first ever Olympic medal, a silver in the C2 500, their 19-year-old protégé, SergheiTarnovschi, has put the country back on medal podium.

Tarnovschi held on to take bronze in the men’s C1 1000, with Germany’s Sebastian Brendel taking the gold medal.

Both the 1996 medallists are still heavily involved in sport in Moldova. Reneischi is Tarnovschi’s coach, while Juravschi is now the head of the Moldova National Olympic Committee.

“This is the first medal for Moldova since 1996,” Tarnovschi said.

“Our NOC President was a two-time Olympic gold medallist and a silver medallist. It is good for me because the President of our NOC is a canoer.”

As the only teenager in the field, Tarnovschi has a big future ahead of him. And he was thrilled to start his Olympic career with a bronze.

“I’m very happy, it was a very hard race for me,” he said.

“The bronze medal at the age of 19, it’s perfect for me for my life.

“I have more time and many Olympic Games in the future. Before Tokyo I will train more, maybe we will look at different places to train – maybe USA, maybe Canada, maybe Europe.”

Tarnovschi admitted the long lead-up season had made Tuesday’s race tough.

“It was hard because it is the last race in the year, and it’s the last race in my season so that made it hard,” he said.

“I have had two World Cups, a European Championships, and I won medals at those.

“I wanted to take a medal in this competition, and I got a bronze. It’s perfect.”

Tarnovschi will now turn his attention to Friday’s C2 event, when he’ll be competing alongside his brother.

So what are their chances of emulating the performance of their coach and head of their NOC?

“We have started this season only twice, so it is a new boat,” Tarnovschi said.

“We only started training together this year.”