David Popovici, the 17-year-old crack who chose to lead an ascetic life, has become “addicted to the podium” and has already broken the world swimming record

World swimming has a new star: David Popovich. At just 17, the Romanian has already written his name in the great books of the sport. His latest successes were achieved in European Championshipin the swimming pool of Italic forum of Rome, where on Saturday he conquered the 100 freestyle and broke the world record that was in the hands of the Brazilian Cesare Cielo since 2009 and this Monday he was crowned in the 200 of the same style with the third best score in history. Tall and thin, with long arms, but without the muscles that characterize the best sprinters in the world, he has come to break the US hegemony of recent years in these events.

After his weekend venture, he ensured that the secret of his success is simple: “Work, work and more work”. But that dedication did nothing but help him develop an extraordinary natural talent and competitive intelligence that became evident in the beginning.

Born in Bucharest on September 15, 2004, the same year that American legend Michael Phelps made his Olympic debut, Popovici began swimming on medical advice. Doctors assured his parents that such discipline would help correct his scoliosis problems. So, at the age of 4, little Davis jumped into a swimming pool for the first time, and only six years later he began to amaze and add to his first victories.

Adrian Radulescu, who has been his coach since he was 9, recalled in recent days that his pupil was not an easy swimmer to train, because he was very active and easily bored. But he also said that as soon as he met him, he realized he had “something special”.

“He always wanted to have fun, jump, like all children. But youhe had something different, he was very competitive. It’s something I had to develop because I was only competitive when I wanted to be, ”said Radulescu, who shared an anecdote that clarified Popovici’s precocity.

“We were focused, he was about ten years old, and we organized a competition with swimmers of the same age. We had to swim 25 meters and the last one was eliminated. Two guys were better than him when the game started. In each David He came next to last. In front of the others they wanted to prove they were good and they got tired. In the final his last rival was out of energy and David beat him. So at 10 he already had the intelligence and talent “, the coach said.

Radulescu knew how to guide him and David became a true professional, to the point that today he defines himself as an ascetic, that is, a person who chooses to give up some material pleasures and lead an austere life to achieve perfection.

“It is simply about knowing what you are willing to do and what others will not do.. This leads to living in a totally different way, for example in terms of nutrition, sleep, parties … But it doesn’t matter to me, because I remember why I do it “, she commented several times in the past few days.

And speaking of the secret of his impressive progression, he reflected: “Erling Haaland (Norwegian footballer, Manchester City star) was asked the same question, after he broke out like him. He didn’t know much English at the time, but he summed up well when he said “Work work work” (Work, work and work). It’s really like that, a lot of work, a lot of hard work, a lot of sacrifices. It’s about knowing how hungry you are. And I’m really hungry“.

That obsession with victory has accompanied him from a very young age. “When I was 10, I broke a national record for the first time. Since then, I have become addicted to the feeling that the highest position on the podium gives you“, he said earlier to the WELL.

At the age of 14 he already had a score of 49.82 in the 100 meters. And in 2019 she won gold in the mother competition and silver in the 50 and 200 freestyle in the European Youth Olympic Festival from Baku. That triple podium was a warning that young David was destined for great things.

His big breakout on the international stage came last year. At just 16 years old and shortly after he signed the hat-trick in the 50, 100 and 200 free games European youth of Rome, qualified for the 100 and 200 meters finals at the Tokyo Olympics. He got a seventh and a fourth place respectively. And although he was left with the desire to hang a medal, his performance at the event in the Japanese capital allowed him to take off the backpack of the “promise”.

In this 2022 it proved that those great results were no coincidence. You repeated Otopeni’s three victories in the Junior European Championship. is in the Budapest World Championship (June 17 – July 3) he conquered the 100 (including the junior world record) and the 200 free meters, a feat that no one had achieved in almost half a century. The last to make that brace in the same World Cup was the American Jim Montgomery in the 1973 edition of Belgrade. And in recent days, in Rome, he has finished confirming himself as the new great swimming star.

Popovici makes history with every stroke. And while he admits he’s fed up with the competition, he knows that the most important thing happens elsewhere.

“What I want to extract from this, from this competition, is to have fun. The medals, the records, are just an addition. SI enjoy it, I am already satisfied“, he has declared. “It’s all fun! Sport is fun. Getting into a situation of extreme tiredness, close to throwing up, with blood rushing to your head, is no fun right now.. But after thirty minutes, when you no longer feel like dying, it is. And that’s when you tell yourself it was worth it. ”

His lucky passage through the Foro Italico

Not satisfied with what he did in the World Cup, Popovici arrived at the European Championships in Rome with the desire to expand his personal harvest. He has succeeded, and twice.

He made his debut with an undisputed victory in the 100 meters, in which he climbed to the top step of the podium with a time of 46.86, beating the record that the Brazilian Cielo held since the 2009 World Cup. The Romanian, who continues to train in the Bucharest club, far from the stages where his elite rivals prepare, he thus became the youngest man to set a world record in that event in the history of swimming.

The time that Popovici got in the swimming pool of the Foro Italico was of greater value if we remember that Cielo had established its historical record by using one of the controversial polyurethane swimwear, whose favors were banned in 2010 after FINA ruled that they gave an “edge” to those who used them. The 46s91s recorded on that occasion by the South American seemed unbeatable.

In the years that followed, many tried to overcome them, but none succeeded. The closest was the American Caeleb Dresselthe only one who managed to drop below 47 seconds scoring 46.96 in the 2019 Gwangju World Cup final. Until Popovici appeared on the scene last Saturday.

This Monday the Romanian gave the second blow to Rome, winning the 200 meters with 1m42s97, a new junior ecumenical record and third best score of all time. Who are the two who swam that distance in the shortest amount of time? Nothing less than German Paul Biedermandouble world champion in 2009 and current record holder, 1m42, and Phelps, the most successful swimmer at the Olympic Games, with 1m42s96.