LECTURES CURTES // LECTURAS CORTAS

Alexander Popov (nadador ruso)
Las Siete Vidas del Zar de la Velocidad
ELVIRA GONZÁLEZ
Periodista

"No sueño con actores y actrices. Ellos deberían soñar conmigo. Yo soy real"

"Nosotros, los rusos, tenemos una manera diferente de pensar. 
 Si no eres el número uno no eres nadie"

"Si ganas un oro olímpico te vuelves famoso. Si ganas dos eres grande. 
 Y si ganas tres, eres histórico"

"Ahora ya no tengo miedo en ninguna situación de la vida, nadie va a romperme"

Este cruce entre Adonis y Poseidón hace tiempo que tiene en propiedad una parcela en el Olimpo. Alexander Popov es un atleta superlativo, un nadador que ha roto todos los límites y un hombre con aureola de héroe tras jugar al ajedrez con la muerte.

A un pragmático como Popov siempre le ha disgustado toda esa vitola romántica, pero se la ha ganado a pulso. Educado como un buen soviético, Sasha se burlaba de quienes le hablaban del alma rusa, de Tolstoi o Dostoievski. Sus intereses extradeportivos se limitaban a los coches rápidos y los  videojuegos. Pero fue creciendo como nadador y persona. Cayó la URSS en 1991, y Australia, donde vive desde finales de 1992, le dio una visión más amplia del mundo.

Al borde de la muerte
El 24 de agosto de 1996 un cuchillo que emergió en medio del fragor de una pelea callejera en Moscú se cruzó en su vida y le envió al hospital del Kremlin. En vilo tuvo a un país, Rusia, a un presidente, Boris Yeltsin, y al mundo de la natación cuando se suponía que cada uno de estos vértices debían estar reverenciándole por ser el primer nadador capaz de ganar el oro en las dos pruebas de sprint en dos Juegos Olímpicos consecutivos.

Pero el vendedor de melones que creía ser robado por unos jóvenes irresponsables no dañó ningún órgano vital del nadador. Fue operado de urgencia -como recuerdo, una cicatriz de 20 cm.- y como compensación, un volumen de telegramas y cartas igual a los seis kilos de peso que perdió.

Del hospital salió un hombre diferente y con convicciones nuevas. Influido por la que hoy es su esposa, la ex-nadadora olímpica rusa Daria -Dasha- Shmeleva, cuya educación fue más humanista, y así tomó más conciencia de sus raíces. Hoy se ha puesto al día con los clásicos de la literatura de su país y dice con orgullo haber podido con 'Guerra y Paz'. Todo por preservar desde Camberra, donde vive y donde habla ya inglés con acento australiano, sus raíces y transmitirlas a su hijo.

ALGUNES DE LES SEVES FRASES

"After the accident, I think a lot of people don't believe in me, and to make sure that I'm all right, I have to swim faster," he said. "If I recover from this accident, it means that I'm strong enough to handle even this kind of setback and swim even faster."

"You've got to have that hungry feeling for training, that feeling that something is missing in your life, and I'm slowly gaining that,"

"The Olympic Games is a kind of big psychological stress for your head. After that you need to recover. You can't go straight back into the pool."

"When I am away from the water for two days, I feel lazy and bad.When I get back in the water, it's like being born again"

"I always try to swim by myself as if I'm the only one swimming," he said. "I don't look around. It's just myself and the race. The moment you start even taking a glance to the side, you lose the pace."

"I just need my coach to be beside me, and that's it," Popov said. "I just can't trust anyone else."

"I think Matt thought he was very tough and nobody could beat him," Popov said. "But the situation is, you cannot even blink your eyes or the younger generation will take you over just like that."

SWIMMER BIOGRAPHY
Alexander Popov (RUS)

High performances: 1991: LC European Championships - 1st 100m free (49.18)
1992: Olympic Games - 1st 50m free (21.91), 1st 100m free (49.02)
1993: LC European Championships - 1st 50m free (22.27), 1st 100m free (49.15)
1994: LC World Championships - 1st 50m free (22.17), 1st 100m free (49.21)
1995: LC European Championships - 1st 50m free (22.25), 1st 100m free (49.10)
1996: Olympic Games - 1st 50m free (22.13), 1st 100m free (48.74)
1997: LC European Championships - 1st 50m free (22.30), 1st 100m free (49.09)
1998: LC World Championships - 1st 100m free (48.93), 2nd 50m free (22.43)
1999: LC European Championships - 2nd 100m free (48.82), 3rd 50m free (22.32), SC World Championships - 5th 50m free (22.10)
2000: Olympic Games - 2nd 100m free (48.69), 6th 50m free (22.24), LC European Championships - 1st 50m freestyle (21.95), 1st 100m freestyle (48.61), 1st 4x100m free relay (3:18.75), 1st 4x100m Medley relay (3:39.29)

2002: SC World Championships - 3rd 50m free (21.55), 3rd 4x100m free relay (3:11.24), LC European Championships - 2nd 100m free (48.94), 5th 50m free (22.35), 1st 4x100m medley relay (3:36.21)

Personal best times: Long course (50m) - 50m free: 21.64 (World Record, 2000); 100m free: 48.21 (1994)
Short course (25m) - 50m free: 21.50 (1994); 100m free: 46.74 (World Record, 1994)

World Rankings (50m): 1999: 2nd 50m free, 3rd 100m free

2000: 1st 50m free, 3rd 100m free

2001: 1st 50m free, 18th 100m free

Background: Popov did not start swimming until he was 8, and after overcoming a fear of the water. Unknown to many, Popov was a backstroker first and only converted to freestyle after joining the squad of much respected coach, Gennadi Touretski in 1990. He spends over 6 hours a day in the pool at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra, where he has trained since his coach moved there in 1993, and swims 80-90km a week, much more than most sprinters.
He was holidaying in Moscow (after the Olympic Games of Atlanta) when he got into major trouble. On the 24th of August 1996, Popov was returning home from a birthday party with his friends when he ran into some watermelon sellers. His friends started arguing with the sellers about the purchase of a watermelon and that is when the brawl started. He was stabbed in the stomach, damaging his kidneys and grazing his lungs. He was rushed to the Moscow City Hospital No. 31 where he underwent a three hour emergency operation. Alexander's first meet after that incident was on February 22, 1997.
He has got several nicknames: Big Dog - the nickname the US swim team give him. It is supposed to be a compliment and comes from the saying "You've got to let the big dog eat"; The Ice Man - referring to Popov's calmness before a big race; "Sasha" - what his coach calls him. It is Russian nickname for the name Aleksandr.
He is  married to Russian swimmer, Daria ("Dasha") Shmeleyva, who had been his girlfriend for 2 years. The couple's first child, Vladimir, was born on October 1st, 1997.
His sports hero is Ukrainian polevaulter Sergei Bubka, "because he's been at the top for so long", and because he markets himself well.

Més Informació sobre Alexander Popov  (http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Track/8814/)

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