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Andreea Dragoi, a sophomore swimmer at San Jose State University, is hoping to become the next Olivia Dunne.
She’s off to a pretty good start too, after being featured over the weekend by The Sun.
The 5-foot-10 Dragoi, from Bucharest, Romania, was the winner of this year’s Miss Ambassador and Miss California US Nation Beauty Pageants.
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Andreea Dragoi writes in her bio for the Miss Europe Continental, an international beauty contest, “After many years of hard training, meets, and many ups and downs, I realized how grateful I was for never giving up on swimming. As this journey is what made me the person I am today. A strong, ambitious, confident woman that can overcome obstacles that the little girl in her never thought she would.
“It has always been a dream to come to California, and now here I am.
“I want to inspire everyone out there to start believing in themselves and do everything they’ve set their mind to. Everything and anything is possible, all it takes is trust, putting the work in, and always loving what you’re doing.
“Shortly after I moved here, I started getting more and more modeling jobs which made me happy as modeling has always been my dream since I was a little kid, but it always felt so unreachable. Now I’m competing in pageants as well which is a new passion and experience for me.”
Andreea Dragoi recently appeared on the SwimSwam podcast where she had a lengthy discussion about her upbringing as an athlete, growing up and training with world record holder David Popovici, modeling in Romania and the United States, her involvement in beauty pageants, and causes she supports such as providing swim lessons for those with disabilities.
“I started modeling in 2019 over the summer right before I moved across the world to study in the United States,” she told the podcast. “I went to an agency and did a modeling course with them for one month. They taught me everything.”
She competes in the 100 fly, 200 fly and 500 free, according to her bio for San Jose State where she studies kinesiology, sport management and psychology. Dragoi has also competed in the World and European Junior Championships
Dragoi also shared some advice in her Miss Europe Continental bio, “My message is to go shine out there, be confident, fearless, and never look back.”