My friend Mihai Leu died. Mihai, you went too early, just 56, after a terrible and unfair struggle with a cancer that has tormented you for more than a decade, a struggle that you have taken with dignity, in silence, with the courage that only those born to face the impossible know. But today, your heart has tired.
Photo: Facebook
For me, Mihai's disappearance means the departure of a man I met, with whom I spoke, with whom I laughed, with whom I shared big moments but also simple moments. And it is also a personal wound. Mihai Leu went up in the ring, once, with my brother, who, now, is in heaven. I think there, in a corner of light, they will shake hands again.
Mihai Leu was the first world champion of Romania in professional boxing, a historical performance, an impossible terminal in Romanian sport. He defeated his opponents with an elegant technique, with intelligence and discipline and in no case with brutality. He brought personal honor to the ring for his country, and outside the ring has brought decency.
But he didn't stop there. After his boxing career, he transformed his passion for sports in a new direction: car. And there he became a national champion. He was the man who brought the rally of Arad to the Fia calendar, in a period when no one believed that Arad could become a regional capital of motorsport. Without Mihai, this rally would not have existed. Without him, we would not have had this story of endurance, speed, balance and determination that inspired generations of young people.
Mihai Leu was, all his life, a silent fighter. He did not complain, he did not praise, he built, worked and yes, unfortunately he suffered. He led his disease with the same discretion with which he lived his life, without show, without asking anyone compassion, but with a power that imposes, now, or especially how, absolute respect.
Today, Romania loses a champion and I lose a friend. Arad loses an adoptive son who put his soul into everything he did. And the Romanian sport remains poorer.
Let's not forget it. To give him an example. Because Mihai Leu was, from my point of view, much more than a athlete: it was a character, a model and a symbol of what it means to never give up.
Lin road, Mihai. You fought to the end. And you have won the most important title of all: the respect and love of an entire country.
