X-ray of David Popovici, the new swimming star: "He had a hard time finding the balance between fun and discipline"
David Popovici, a phenomenon, a wonder, the new swimming star. Last summer, at just 17 years old, he broke the record of all records, the 100-meter freestyle, and the world opened up before him.
Half a dozen universities in the United States offered him a blank check. Michigan, Stanford, Berkeley…. The possibility of training alongside the best swimmers in the world; of living with Michael Phelps, his idol; to study Psychology, the career that most attracts him due to the inheritance of his mother Georgeta, a psychologist.
All the technicians studied his technique. As it does? His position, propelled out of the water, riding his own wave. Your stroke rate, unchangeable, always unchangeable. His very strong kick, especially the left. His recoveries, his roll, his turns.
And his country, Romania, went out of his way to pamper him.. What I wanted, what I needed. Since Nadia Comaneci and Ecaterina Szabo, gymnasts from the communist era, they have not had a world reference and in the last Games they only won four medals, three in rowing and one in fencing.
one more teenager
David Popovici, a phenomenon, a wonder, the new swimming star. But also one more teenager, a boy who goes out with his girlfriend Taisia Niuleasa -make-up artist apprentice-, who listens to Romanian hip-hop -Subcarpati, Kazi Ploae or Specii-, who rides his bike around Budapest and who is trying to get his driver's license.
“Many things have changed around David, but for him this has been a special year because he has finished high school [with an 8.65 in the Romanian Selectividad] and has chosen a university in Bucharest to continue his studies. The goal is to be as competitive as possible, but also to learn, to live,” explains Adrian Radulescu, in conversation with EL MUNDO, from Fukuoka, where Popovici will try to re-proclaim himself world champion of the 100-meter freestyle (on Thursday, around 1:30 p.m., on Teledeporte) and the 200-meter freestyle (on Tuesday, at 1:00 p.m., on TDP).
Swimmer David Popovici WORLD
In just one answer, Radulescu, who is called Mr.. Adi, summarize your way of directing the trajectory of talent. Others would have muscled Popovici, a guy of 1.91 meters, 2.05 in wingspan and weighing just 79 kilos. Others would have demanded discipline and rectitude, more with the Romanian sports tradition. Others would have crushed him to do kilometers and would have multiplied his specialties so that he wins three, four or five golds in each World Cup. Radulescu, no. Ever since he met a 9-year-old Popovici at Aqua Team Bucuresti, he let him do it, tolerated some mischief and, little by little, educated him to be the best swimmer in the world and, at the same time, a good guy.. For example, it introduced him to Philosophy, of which the coach is a lover, to Seneca, to Plato.
Was he as rebellious as they say? No, I wouldn't say he was rebellious, he just wanted to play and have a good time. To learn, I needed to understand things, not take orders.. Obviously in his beginnings he did not have the best attitude to develop as a swimmer, but he was willing to listen. It took a while to find the balance between fun and discipline, but we did it.
“A lot of people exaggerate about David. For example, about his physique, about his conditions. He has a good build for a swimmer, but other swimmers have it too. It is not a reincarnation of Adonis or Apollo, that is not the reality. The technique is always more important than the physique”, proclaims Radulescu who wants to keep Popovici on the right path. He has obtained sufficient financial support -from the Romanian government, from various companies in the country and from Arena- so that the swimmer does not have to go to the United States to study, he has agreed with him to restrict the swimmer's public appearances “so that no one dreams about him” and has kept the focus focused on only two tests, the 100 and 200-meter freestyle. There have been a lot of rumors about Popovici's jump to the 400-meter freestyle and in the last Romanian Championships he competed in various butterfly and relay distances, but it is not the time yet.
Why not swim five or six events like most stars do? We are focused on the 100-meter freestyle and the 200-meter freestyle. David enjoys as a child when he improves his personal best in other distances and in other specialties, but our goals on the road to the Paris 2024 Games have not changed.
The world is another for Popovici. Rivals who did not know him before now challenge him, especially the Hungarian Kristof Milak, who changed the butterfly for the crawl to measure himself against him.. His parents, Mihai and Georgeta, no longer wear those t-shirts that said 'Parents of Kahuna' to competitions – a Kahuna is a magician, a childish complicity within the family – and they have even changed jobs: Mihai is now director of Dinamo Bucharest's swimming school. And the fans recognize him wherever he is, like these days in Fukuoka, where he has tired of taking selfies. But Popovici is still just another teenager.
“The pressure is great, that is undeniable, but we try not to change him. David is a sensitive, humble, calm boy. He is a better person than a swimmer,” concludes his coach, Adrian Radulescu, about the phenomenon, the wonder, the new swimming star.