Alexander Popov (swimmer)

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For the biathlete, see Alexander Popov (biathlete).

Men’s swimming
Olympic medal record
Competitor for the Image:Olympic flag.svg Unified Team
Gold	1992 Barcelona	50 m freestyle
Gold	1992 Barcelona	100 m freestyle
Competitor for Image:Flag of Russia.svg Russia
Gold	1996 Atlanta	50 m freestyle
Gold	1996 Atlanta	100 m freestyle
Silver	2000 Sydney	100 m freestyle
World Championships (LC)
Competitor for Image:Flag of Russia.svg Russia
Gold	1994 Rome	50 m Freestyle
Gold	1994 Rome	100 m Freestyle
Silver	1994 Rome	4x100 m Freestyle
Silver	1994 Rome	4x100 m Medley
Silver	1998 Perth	50 m Freestyle
Gold	1998 Perth	100 m Freestyle
Bronze	1998 Perth	4x100 m Freestyle
Gold	2003 Barcelona	50 m Freestyle
Gold	2003 Barcelona	100 m Freestyle
Gold	2003 Barcelona	4x100 m Freestyle
Silver	2003 Barcelona	4x100 m Medley
World Championships (SC)
Competitor for Image:Flag of Russia.svg Russia
Bronze	2002 Moscow	50 m Freestyle
Bronze	2002 Moscow	4x100 m Freestyle
European Championships (LC)
Competitor for Image:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Soviet Union
Gold	1991 Athens	100m Freestyle
Gold	1991 Athens	4x100m Freestyle
Gold	1991 Athens	4x100m Medley
Competitor for Image:Flag of Russia.svg Russia
Gold	1993 Sheffield	50m Freestyle
Gold	1993 Sheffield	100m Freestyle
Gold	1993 Sheffield	4x100m Freestyle
Gold	1993 Sheffield	4x100m Medley
Gold	1995 Vienna	50m Freestyle
Gold	1995 Vienna	100m Freestyle
Gold	1995 Vienna	4x100m Freestyle
Gold	1995 Vienna	4x100m Medley
Gold	1997 Seville	50m Freestyle
Gold	1997 Seville	100m Freestyle
Gold	1997 Seville	4x100m Freestyle
Gold	1997 Seville	4x100m Medley
Bronze	1999 Istanbul	50m Freestyle
Silver	1999 Istanbul	100m Freestyle
Silver	1999 Istanbul	4x100m Freestyle
Bronze	1999 Istanbul	4x100m Medley
Gold	2000 Helsinki	50m Freestyle
Gold	2000 Helsinki	100m Freestyle
Gold	2000 Helsinki	4x100m Freestyle
Gold	2000 Helsinki	4x100m Medley
Silver	2002 Berlin	100m Freestyle
Gold	2002 Berlin	4x100m Medley
Gold	2004 Madrid	50m Freestyle

Aleksandr Vladimirovich Popov (also Alexander Popov, Russian: Александр Владимирович Попов; (born November 16, 1971) is a Russian former professional swimmer, one of the world's best swimmers of the 1990s.

[edit] Career

Born in Sverdlovsk, Popov began swimming at age 8, at that time afraid of water. However, his father insisted on him taking swimming lessons, and in his own words, he has "been stuck there ever since". Popov started out as a backstroker but switched to freestyle when he joined Gennadi Touretski's squad. Since then, he has moved from Russia to Australia to be with his coach.

Popov won the men's 50 m and 100 m freestyle in the Barcelona Olympics in 1992, and repeated his victories in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, becoming the first man to do so since Johnny "Tarzan" Weissmuller. He presented Touretski with his 1996 Olympic gold medal from the 100 m freestyle. "I have a title and I'm on the paper, but, you know, Gennadi hasn't gotten anything from Atlanta or from Barcelona," Popov said. "But I know how much this particular medal means for him, is worth for him."

One month after the Atlanta Olympics, he was stabbed in the abdomen with a knife during a dispute with three Moscow street vendors. The knife sliced his artery, grazed one of his kidneys and damaged the pleura, the membrane that encases the lungs. He had emergency surgery and spent three months in rehabilitation. At the 1997 European Championships in Seville, Spain, he defended his 50 m and 100 m freestyle titles. "My soul wasn't damaged, my brain wasn't damaged, only my body."

In the 2003 Barcelona World Championships, Popov once again made a clean sweep of the men's 50 m and 100 m freestyle events, citing that Barcelona would always be special to him, for it was there that for him, everything first began. He announced his participation in the 2004 Athens Olympics. However, being the oldest competitor at the pool, the gold medal eluded him, and he did not even manage to make it into the finals of both the men's 50 m and 100 m freestyle events.

Popov was elected a full member of the International Olympic Committee in December 1999. He also represents the athletes on the IOC Sport for All Commission and was elected directly as one of seven athletes to the IOC Athletes Commission by the athletes participating in the 1996 Olympics. He was re-elected to the Athletes Commission at the 2000 Games and is now Honorary Secretary. He was awarded the 1996 Russian Medal of Honour for contributions to sport. He was also named Russian Athlete of the Year and European Sports Press Union Athlete of the Year in 1996.

In June 2003, he confirmed that he was permanently leaving Australia in early 2004 to live in Solothurn, Switzerland. He said the move followed the offer of a business proposition in Switzerland, once he had retired from swimming. He plans to retain Touretski as a long-distance coach.

Popov has both a Bachelor's and Master's Degrees in Sports Coaching from the Russian Academy. He is currently married to a former Russian swimmer. He is also a spokesman for Omega. He is 2 m tall and weighs 87 kg, and is well-known for his kindness and friendliness, as well as his good looks.

As of 2007, Popov still holds the world record for the long course men's 50 m freestyle with 21.64 s.^[1]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

^ Men's 50 m freestyle world records. FINA. Retrieved on 2007-01-05.

v • d • e Olympic champions in men's 50 m freestyle
1988: Matt Biondi \| 1992: Alexander Popov \| 1996: Alexander Popov \| 2000: Anthony Ervin and Gary Hall, Jr. \| 2004: Gary Hall, Jr.

v • d • e

Olympic champions in men's 100 m freestyle

Records
Preceded by Image:Flag of the United States.svg Matt Biondi (USA)	Men's 100 metre freestyle world record holder (long course) 18 June 1994 – 16 September 2000	Succeeded by Image:Flag of Australia.svg Michael Klim (AUS)
Preceded by Image:Flag of Brazil.svg Gustavo Borges (BRA)	Men's 100 metre freestyle world record holder (short course) 1994-01-01 – March 27, 2004	Succeeded by Image:Flag of the United States.svg Ian Crocker (USA)
Preceded by Image:Flag of the United States.svg Tom Jager	Men's 50 metre freestyle world record holder (long course) June 16, 2000	Succeeded by Incumbent
Awards
Preceded by Karoly Guttler	European Swimmer of the Year 1994	Succeeded by Denis Pankratov
Preceded by Pieter van den Hoogenband	European Swimmer of the Year 2003	Succeeded by Pieter van den Hoogenband

Persondata
NAME	Popov, Alexander Vladimirovich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Popov, Aleksandr (Alternative}, Попов, Александр (Russian)
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Russian swimmer
DATE OF BIRTH	November 16, 1971
PLACE OF BIRTH	Sverdlovsk, Russian SFSR
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH

de:Alexander Wladimirowitsch Popow

es:Alexander Popov fr:Alexander Popov hr:Aleksandr Popov id:Alexander Popov it:Aleksandr Vladimirovič Popov nl:Aleksandr Popov (zwemmer) ja:アレクサンドル・ポポフ (競泳選手) pl:Aleksandr Popow pt:Alexander Popov ru:Попов, Александр Владимирович fi:Aleksandr Popov (uimari) sv:Aleksandr Popov (simmare) vi:Aleksandr Vladimirovich Popov (bơi)

Retrieved from "http://india.smashits.com/wikipedia/Alexander_Popov_%28swimmer%29"

Alexander Popov (swimmer)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[edit] Career

[edit] See also

[edit] References

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