Alexander Popov (swimmer)

Medal record
Alexander Popov (swimmer)
Men’s swimming
Olympic Games
Competitor for the Unified Team
Gold	1992 Barcelona	50 m freestyle
Gold	1992 Barcelona	100 m freestyle
Silver	1992 Barcelona	4×100 m freestyle
Silver	1992 Barcelona	4×100 m medley
Competitor for Russia
Gold	1996 Atlanta	50 m freestyle
Gold	1996 Atlanta	100 m freestyle
Silver	1996 Atlanta	4×100 m freestyle
Silver	1996 Atlanta	4×100 m medley
Silver	2000 Sydney	100 m freestyle
World Championships (LC)
Competitor for Russia
Gold	1994 Rome	50 m freestyle
Gold	1994 Rome	100 m freestyle
Gold	1998 Perth	100 m freestyle
Gold	2003 Barcelona	50 m freestyle
Gold	2003 Barcelona	100 m freestyle
Gold	2003 Barcelona	4×100 m freestyle
Silver	1994 Rome	4×100 m freestyle
Silver	1994 Rome	4×100 m medley
Silver	1998 Perth	50 m freestyle
Silver	2003 Barcelona	4×100 m medley
Bronze	1998 Perth	4×100 m freestyle
World Championships (SC)
Competitor for Russia
Bronze	2002 Moscow	50 m freestyle
Bronze	2002 Moscow	4×100 m freestyle
European Championships (LC)
Competitor for Soviet Union
Gold	1991 Athens	100 m freestyle
Gold	1991 Athens	4×100 m freestyle
Gold	1991 Athens	4×100 m medley
Competitor for Russia
Gold	1993 Sheffield	50 m freestyle
Gold	1993 Sheffield	100 m freestyle
Gold	1993 Sheffield	4×100 m freestyle
Gold	1993 Sheffield	4×100 m medley
Gold	1995 Vienna	50 m freestyle
Gold	1995 Vienna	100 m freestyle
Gold	1995 Vienna	4×100 m freestyle
Gold	1995 Vienna	4×100 m medley
Gold	1997 Seville	50 m freestyle
Gold	1997 Seville	100 m freestyle
Gold	1997 Seville	4×100 m freestyle
Gold	1997 Seville	4×100 m medley
Gold	2000 Helsinki	50 m freestyle
Gold	2000 Helsinki	100 m freestyle
Gold	2000 Helsinki	4×100 m freestyle
Gold	2000 Helsinki	4×100 m medley
Gold	2002 Berlin	4×100 m medley
Gold	2004 Madrid	50 m freestyle
Silver	1999 Istanbul	100 m freestyle
Silver	1999 Istanbul	4×100 m freestyle
Silver	2002 Berlin	100 m freestyle
Bronze	1999 Istanbul	50 m freestyle
Bronze	1999 Istanbul	4×100 m medley

Aleksandr Vladimirovich Popov (also Alexander Popov, Russian: Александр Владимирович Попов); (born November 16, 1971) is a Russian former Olympic gold-winning swimmer, widely regarded as one of the greatest sprint freestyle swimmers of all time.

Career

Born in Lesnoy (Russian: Лесной, Cвepдлoвcкaя Oблaсть), Popov began swimming at age 8 at the Children and Youth Sports School of Fakel Sports Complex in Lesnoy, at that time afraid of water. However, his father insisted on him taking swimming lessons in that sports school, 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 in 1990 on the initiative by the Head Coach of the USSR National Team Glep Petrov. 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 successfully defended his 50 m and 100 m freestyle titles.

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.

Popov held the world record for the long course men's 50 m freestyle with 21.64 s for almost 10 years, until it was broken by 0.08 s in 2008 by Australian Eamon Sullivan.

He has recently appeared at the closing ceremony of the Beijing Olympics after being elected a member of the IOC, presenting flowers to volunteers. He has been named to the Evaluation Commission for the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Honours and awards

This article incorporates information from the equivalent article on the Russian Wikipedia.

• Order of Merit for the Fatherland, 3rd class
• Order of Friendship
• Honoured Master of Sports

See also

• World record progression 50 metres freestyle
• World record progression 100 metres freestyle
• List of multiple Olympic medalists at a single Games
• List of multiple Olympic gold medalists

References

Records
Preceded by Matt Biondi (USA)	Men's 100 metre freestyle world record holder (long course) 18 June 1994 – 16 September 2000	Succeeded by Michael Klim (AUS)
Preceded by Gustavo Borges (BRA)	Men's 100 metre freestyle world record holder (short course) January 1, 1994 – March 27, 2004	Succeeded by Ian Crocker (USA)
Preceded by Tom Jager	Men's 50 metre freestyle world record holder (long course) June 16, 2000 – February 17, 2008	Succeeded by Eamon Sullivan (AUS)
Preceded by Mark Foster	Men's 50 metre freestyle world record holder (short course) March 13, 1994 – December 13, 1998	Succeeded by Mark Foster (GBR)
Awards
Preceded by Károly Güttler	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