Popovici a mai facut un record dar noi suntem la fel de impotenti si mincinosi in amarata asta de tara.
ce sa mai zic, ma bucur cand vad sleahta de politicieni care se gudura pe langa pustiul minune si nu in ultimul rand salut directorul tembeliziunii publice care bine merci sta in pestera.
The Times rareori se intereseaza de sportivii din tarile Europei de Est dar de data asta o face si asta spune ceva.
Meet David Popovici, the ‘new Thorpedo’ who can change the face of freestyle
David Popovici, a 17-year-old Romanian, is taking the World Championships by storm and wants to “make the impossible possible”
When Ian Thorpe, the king of 200m freestyle swimming, this week honoured a promise to the Romanian 17-year-old David Popovici to show up in Budapest and hand him the gold medal should he win the world title, it felt like something of an anointment.
In 1998, a 15-year-old Thorpe, on a trajectory to Olympic immortality, became the youngest world champion ever, over 400m. Now, all eyes are on the “new Thorpedo” — a teenage talent who is outpacing his older, more experienced peers and possesses the same physical attributes and tactical acumen that made the Australian freestyler an all-time great.
Popovici was born a month after the legendary Race of the Century, the 200m freestyle final at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Thorpe won that day ahead of Pieter van den Hoogenband and Michael Phelps — all three setting a blistering pace. Yet the 1min 43.21sec in which Popovici claimed his first senior world title on Monday — with Britain’s Olympic champion, Tom Dean, taking bronze — was a full second and a half quicker than Thorpe on that day nearly 18 years ago.
Popovici’s time was the fourth fastest in history — quicker than anything Thorpe managed and the second fastest, behind Phelps, since streamlined suits were banned in 2009. The teenager then returned to the pool on Wednesday to win a second gold, in the 100m freestyle, to become the youngest world champion in that event since 1975. His time of 47.58sec was behind the 47.13sec world junior record he set in semi-final.
Popovici’s time was the fourth fastest in history — quicker than anything Thorpe managed and the second fastest, behind Phelps, since streamlined suits were banned in 2009. Back home in Bucharest, they were referring to Popovici as a “once-in-every-100-years talent”, long before a 2021 season in which he claimed three golds at the European Junior Championships, two years after he showed promise with one gold and two silvers at the European Youth Olympic Festival, aged 14, in 2019.
At the Tokyo Olympics last year he finished fourth in the 200m freestyle, only 0.02sec shy of the medals as Dean and Duncan Scott made it a British one-two.
Less than a year on, Popovici is swimming a second faster than Dean or Scott. By the time he races in the last days of his teenage years at the Paris Olympics in 2024, he is expected to have taken the pace of freestyle to a new dimension. Even the enduring 100m and 200m world records of 46:91 and 1:42.00 — set by Csar Cielo and Paul Biedermann respectively in banned “shiny suits” in 2009 — are no longer considered to be safe.
Popovici and his coaches have kept a book of goals for a number of years. They include aims that some in his entourage of coach, strength coach, kinesiotherapist, video analyst and nutritionist describe as “absolutely ridiculous” yet not unachievable. His father, Mihai, says his son is out to prove that “what was thought to be impossible can become possible”.
Popovici started swimming at the age of four. His parents were keen to find an outlet for his endless energy but swimming was also chosen on a doctor’s recommendation to help correct early stage scoliosis, a condition in which the spine twists and curves a touch out of line.
Popovici was in his element. Aged eight, he wrote down in a notebook that he would like to swim at the Olympics and, at nine, he told his father: “I want to win medals too.”
The same year, he met “Mr Adi”, as he still calls his coach, Adrian Radulescu, a former swimmer with a PhD in athletic performance. Here in Budapest this week, Radulescu told The Times of his protg: “He is self-motivated, so easy to work with. He’s obviously very talented and he’s really dedicated to his work and his dreams to be better every day.
“He always trains for his goals. He knows where he is during a race and afterwards he assesses whether he’s done well — a good job, or not.”
It was not always so. Radulescu recalls a restless, mischievous child who was easily bored. Popovici would find excuses to have a rest: play with his goggles, ask to go to the bathroom, say he had a headache, a stomach ache, a pain in his shoulder. But when he felt the urge there would be bursts of “incredible speed”. From an early age, Popovici was the king of “minimum effort, maximum impact”, as his coach puts it.
Andreea Giuclea, a Romanian journalist who has followed his career, said: “You could tell it wasn’t just because he was taller. OK, he was tall, but so were others. He wasn’t the strongest. He couldn’t do a push-up, others could do 100. There was clearly something else at play there.”
The swimmer’s mother, Georgeta, a psychologist, summed up the environment in which her son grew up at the pool. “He [the coach] never reprimanded him,” she said. Instead, Radulescu patiently waited to understand how he could bring out the boy’s competitive streak in training — to encourage him to dig deep and make the best of his gifts.
In the process, Radulescu concluded that Popovici was someone who needed every part of the plan explained. Once the youngster understood why hard training hurt and what he would get out of it, the corner was turned and there was no looking back.
Trust was paramount. “If I didn’t trust him, I couldn’t push myself so hard at every practice until I feel terribly sick,” Popovici said. “But knowing that something good comes after it, I can go through almost anything.” He also found it fun to win and break records, the first of which fell to him at ten, a national age-group 50m backstroke record that had stood for 24 years.
Radulescu’s descriptions of Popovici’s development years have key parallels with the Race of the Century trio. The coach cites the swimmer’s parents as the foundation of his success story.
“Parents want certainty. And sport — as in David’s case, at least until July 2021 — is uncertain,” Radulescu told Giuclea in an interview. “People can’t wait.” But Popovici’s parents waited, adhered to the process and stuck to the same consistent messages throughout the swimmer’s early years.
His friends nicknamed him “the magician” because of his love of playing cards in between races. Most competition weekends ended with a trip to the Ikea canteen on the way home: David liked the cake there and he got a slice whether he had done well or not.
“I don’t like to speak about potential around him or even praise him,” his mother told Giuclea, “I’m so detached that the poor kid, when he sets a new record, looks at me and says: ‘Are you even aware of what I’ve achieved?’”
Her role, she says, is to ask about his homework. Two weeks before travelling to Budapest for the World Championships, Popovici had an English exam. He thought it might be a distraction but his mother insisted that lessons and the tests that come with them are a part of life.
His physical attributes are a key component of what makes Popovici a swimmer fit to make a porpoise blush — he has size 14 feet, hands like shovels, no hips and curves to speak of and resist the water, stands 1.90m tall and boasts another Phelpsian dimension — a wingspan, fingertip to stretched-out fingertip, of just over 2m. For all that, however, it is Popovici’s attitude that Radulescu believes marks him out from the rest.
After the Tokyo Olympics, he became famous back home as the 16-year-old talent who had nothing negative to say about fourth place. He gave interviews, attended events, received awards and was a social-media sensation. Then, last autumn, he cut out all social media, changed his number and stopped interviews. In a rare one this year, he told Giuclea: “Do I want to be more famous or a better swimmer? It’s important for people to hear what I have to say, but that time will come after I’ve done all I can in the pool.”
Happy to have had his medal presented by Thorpe, Popovici was not star-struck and seems to have a wisdom beyond his years.
“He kept his promise and it was an honour to shake his hand,” Popovici told The Times. “I’d love to talk to him more and get some more insight. He’s been in my place, or a bigger place than me breaking world records at a young age, so I know I have a lot to learn from him.”
Meet David Popovici, the ‘new Thorpedo’ who can change the face of freestyle
David Popovici, a 17-year-old Romanian, is taking the World Championships by storm and wants to “make the impossible possible”
When Ian Thorpe, the king of 200m freestyle swimming, this week honoured a promise to the Romanian 17-year-old David Popovici to show up in Budapest and hand him the gold medal should he win the world title, it felt like something of an anointment.
In 1998, a 15-year-old Thorpe, on a trajectory to Olympic immortality, became the youngest world champion ever, over 400m. Now, all eyes are on the “new Thorpedo” — a teenage talent who is outpacing his older, more experienced peers and possesses the same physical attributes and tactical acumen that made the Australian freestyler an all-time great.
Popovici was born a month after the legendary Race of the Century, the 200m freestyle final at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Thorpe won that day ahead of Pieter van den Hoogenband and Michael Phelps — all three setting a blistering pace. Yet the 1min 43.21sec in which Popovici claimed his first senior world title on Monday — with Britain’s Olympic champion, Tom Dean, taking bronze — was a full second and a half quicker than Thorpe on that day nearly 18 years ago.
Popovici’s time was the fourth fastest in history — quicker than anything Thorpe managed and the second fastest, behind Phelps, since streamlined suits were banned in 2009. The teenager then returned to the pool on Wednesday to win a second gold, in the 100m freestyle, to become the youngest world champion in that event since 1975. His time of 47.58sec was behind the 47.13sec world junior record he set in semi-final.
Popovici’s time was the fourth fastest in history — quicker than anything Thorpe managed and the second fastest, behind Phelps, since streamlined suits were banned in 2009.
Back home in Bucharest, they were referring to Popovici as a “once-in-every-100-years talent”, long before a 2021 season in which he claimed three golds at the European Junior Championships, two years after he showed promise with one gold and two silvers at the European Youth Olympic Festival, aged 14, in 2019.
At the Tokyo Olympics last year he finished fourth in the 200m freestyle, only 0.02sec shy of the medals as Dean and Duncan Scott made it a British one-two.
Less than a year on, Popovici is swimming a second faster than Dean or Scott. By the time he races in the last days of his teenage years at the Paris Olympics in 2024, he is expected to have taken the pace of freestyle to a new dimension. Even the enduring 100m and 200m world records of 46:91 and 1:42.00 — set by Csar Cielo and Paul Biedermann respectively in banned “shiny suits” in 2009 — are no longer considered to be safe.
Popovici and his coaches have kept a book of goals for a number of years. They include aims that some in his entourage of coach, strength coach, kinesiotherapist, video analyst and nutritionist describe as “absolutely ridiculous” yet not unachievable. His father, Mihai, says his son is out to prove that “what was thought to be impossible can become possible”.
Popovici started swimming at the age of four. His parents were keen to find an outlet for his endless energy but swimming was also chosen on a doctor’s recommendation to help correct early stage scoliosis, a condition in which the spine twists and curves a touch out of line.
Popovici was in his element. Aged eight, he wrote down in a notebook that he would like to swim at the Olympics and, at nine, he told his father: “I want to win medals too.”
The same year, he met “Mr Adi”, as he still calls his coach, Adrian Radulescu, a former swimmer with a PhD in athletic performance. Here in Budapest this week, Radulescu told The Times of his protg: “He is self-motivated, so easy to work with. He’s obviously very talented and he’s really dedicated to his work and his dreams to be better every day.
“He always trains for his goals. He knows where he is during a race and afterwards he assesses whether he’s done well — a good job, or not.”
It was not always so. Radulescu recalls a restless, mischievous child who was easily bored. Popovici would find excuses to have a rest: play with his goggles, ask to go to the bathroom, say he had a headache, a stomach ache, a pain in his shoulder. But when he felt the urge there would be bursts of “incredible speed”. From an early age, Popovici was the king of “minimum effort, maximum impact”, as his coach puts it.
Andreea Giuclea, a Romanian journalist who has followed his career, said: “You could tell it wasn’t just because he was taller. OK, he was tall, but so were others. He wasn’t the strongest. He couldn’t do a push-up, others could do 100. There was clearly something else at play there.”
The swimmer’s mother, Georgeta, a psychologist, summed up the environment in which her son grew up at the pool. “He [the coach] never reprimanded him,” she said. Instead, Radulescu patiently waited to understand how he could bring out the boy’s competitive streak in training — to encourage him to dig deep and make the best of his gifts.
In the process, Radulescu concluded that Popovici was someone who needed every part of the plan explained. Once the youngster understood why hard training hurt and what he would get out of it, the corner was turned and there was no looking back.
Trust was paramount. “If I didn’t trust him, I couldn’t push myself so hard at every practice until I feel terribly sick,” Popovici said. “But knowing that something good comes after it, I can go through almost anything.” He also found it fun to win and break records, the first of which fell to him at ten, a national age-group 50m backstroke record that had stood for 24 years.
Radulescu’s descriptions of Popovici’s development years have key parallels with the Race of the Century trio. The coach cites the swimmer’s parents as the foundation of his success story.
“Parents want certainty. And sport — as in David’s case, at least until July 2021 — is uncertain,” Radulescu told Giuclea in an interview. “People can’t wait.” But Popovici’s parents waited, adhered to the process and stuck to the same consistent messages throughout the swimmer’s early years.
His friends nicknamed him “the magician” because of his love of playing cards in between races. Most competition weekends ended with a trip to the Ikea canteen on the way home: David liked the cake there and he got a slice whether he had done well or not.
“I don’t like to speak about potential around him or even praise him,” his mother told Giuclea, “I’m so detached that the poor kid, when he sets a new record, looks at me and says: ‘Are you even aware of what I’ve achieved?’”
Her role, she says, is to ask about his homework. Two weeks before travelling to Budapest for the World Championships, Popovici had an English exam. He thought it might be a distraction but his mother insisted that lessons and the tests that come with them are a part of life.
His physical attributes are a key component of what makes Popovici a swimmer fit to make a porpoise blush — he has size 14 feet, hands like shovels, no hips and curves to speak of and resist the water, stands 1.90m tall and boasts another Phelpsian dimension — a wingspan, fingertip to stretched-out fingertip, of just over 2m. For all that, however, it is Popovici’s attitude that Radulescu believes marks him out from the rest.
After the Tokyo Olympics, he became famous back home as the 16-year-old talent who had nothing negative to say about fourth place. He gave interviews, attended events, received awards and was a social-media sensation. Then, last autumn, he cut out all social media, changed his number and stopped interviews. In a rare one this year, he told Giuclea: “Do I want to be more famous or a better swimmer? It’s important for people to hear what I have to say, but that time will come after I’ve done all I can in the pool.”
Happy to have had his medal presented by Thorpe, Popovici was not star-struck and seems to have a wisdom beyond his years.
“He kept his promise and it was an honour to shake his hand,” Popovici told The Times. “I’d love to talk to him more and get some more insight. He’s been in my place, or a bigger place than me breaking world records at a young age, so I know I have a lot to learn from him.”
The master v the apprentice – how do they compare?
Height, weight and feet size
Thorpe: 6ft 5in, 16st, size 15
Popovici: 6ft 3in, 12st 8lb, size 14
Achievements at age 14
Thorpe: Two silvers, Pan Pacific Championships
Popovici: One gold, two silvers, European Youth Olympics
Achievements at age 15
Thorpe: Youngest world champion ever in the 400m freestyle
Popovici: Covid pandemic – no competition
Achievements at age 16
Thorpe: First world records: two in the 200m freestyle, one in the 400m freestyle
Popovici: Debut Olympic Games, Tokyo: fourth, 0.02sec from bronze,
200m freestyle
Achievements at age 17
Thorpe: Debut Olympic Games, Sydney: one gold, one silver in solo events and two golds, one silver in relays
Popovici: Debut World Senior Championships, Budapest: two golds in the 100m and 200m freestyle
Career records and global medals
Thorpe: World records: 200m (six), 400m (five), 800m (two) Olympics: five golds, three silvers, one bronze Worlds: 11 golds, one silver, one bronze
Popovici: World junior records: 100m (one), 200m (one), Olympic medals: none, World Championships: two golds
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/m...tyle-32ccw3nkx
Din pacate multe patartele greu de corijat care sunt de fapt '...'
Last edited by miril; 23rd June 2022 at 10:18.
"The minority is sometimes right, the majority always wrong." - A Progres...sive Thinker
"If you support a team that fails to win the league for years, it does feel like a kind of cult'." - Salman Rushdie
A explicat foarte decent presedintele Rtv faptul ca propunerea de achizitie a acestui event s-a facut in urma cu 2 ani, la un pret promotional. Bineinteles, a fost refuzata ferm de partea romn, din motive care merg de la hidrocefalie, pana la incultura si dezinteres cras. Care e nemultumirea, ca Turturel a platit de 15 ori mai mult decat ar fi trebuit sa achite Gradea, acum 2 ani? Platim, daca suntem cretini!
Popovici a fost ridiculizat in presa, cautati editorialul plin de umor stesc al gunoiului de Vochin, dupa locul 7 de la olimpiada! De doua saptamani s-au trezit si romanii ca au campion 🤡 si oracaie ca nu pot vedea competitia. Cand le-a dat Turturel semifinala la 100, aceasta a facut rating 0,3%. 0,3,m!!
Sa multumim clubului sportiv Dinamo Bucurestipt ca a pescuit aceasta perl, dupa refuzurile penibile ale cs-ului spurcat si al echipei primariei capitalei. Si a redat putin orgoliu in boae acestui popor!
PS. Si sa ia cu pine nenorocitul ala in putrefactie, care are totusi indecența de a disparea din peisaj, fiind vorba despre un sportiv al clubului Dinamo Bucuresti
Iata cum a fost ironizat Popovici, la nici 17 ani impliniti, in gazeta mizerabilului sarpe cu ochelari!
Sa cititi si comentariile. Fac pariu ca 90 % dintre gunoaiele astea nu mai prididesc sa spuna oricui cat de mare e Popovici si cat de mandri sunt de compatriotul lor
https://www.google.ro/amp/s/amp.gsp.ro/article/638480
Mai bine nu citeam articolul asta...
Pustiul David nu ar fi afectat dac ar citi, cci e matur suficient sa nțeleag ca mulți scriu ineptii.
O mizerie de articol, eu incerc sa renunt la gsp pentru ca nu mai e de mult ziar de sport si mare parte din echipa ori e proasta iremediabil, ori e rea, ori amandoua.
De fapt gsp este absolut ridicola prin faptul ca acum sunt drapati in Popovici dar in rest nu vezi prea mult despre alte sporturi in afara de fotbal. Si chiar si articolasele despre fotbal sunt in mare parte despre amarata de Liga 1, axate pe scandal ieftin si chestii colaterale sportului. Chiar si acum, printre primele lucruri dezvaluite despre Popovici a fost cat castiga de la club.
Desigur ca nu mai avem sportivi si echipe de top din multe motive ce tin de modul in care se misca tara, dar o parte din vina o poarta si media care rareori prezinta sporturile in mod egal.
"If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is: infinite." William Blake
Glinta locul patru la 50 m spate la egalitate cu gresul. Rees descalifiat de pe pozitia de castigator. Concetateanu Armstrong, castigator.
Last edited by miril; 25th June 2022 at 19:43.
"The minority is sometimes right, the majority always wrong." - A Progres...sive Thinker
"If you support a team that fails to win the league for years, it does feel like a kind of cult'." - Salman Rushdie
Rees repus campion mondial dupa contestatie. Glinta pe cinci.
"The minority is sometimes right, the majority always wrong." - A Progres...sive Thinker
"If you support a team that fails to win the league for years, it does feel like a kind of cult'." - Salman Rushdie
Penibil ministrul nostru... nici mcar felicitri nu a rostit pentru Robert. Dar ma bucur ca David a fost biat inteligent și a dres-o el fain. Ambii sunt niște bieți de vis!!!!!
“Visul meu e sa devin cel mai rapid din istorie”
Asta e ce a spus David.
Campion adevarat, mondial. Sublim, si in plus e roman. Avem asa de rar ...
Sportul darama barierele rasismului !!!
Cel care cade dar se ridica este mai puternic decat cel care nu a cazut niciodata.
46:86.
"The minority is sometimes right, the majority always wrong." - A Progres...sive Thinker
"If you support a team that fails to win the league for years, it does feel like a kind of cult'." - Salman Rushdie
🇷🇴🇷🇴🇷🇴👍 Fabulos, formidabil, uluitor, eceptional.
Oare ce zice idiotul ala de Geambașu acum, care fcea misto de Popovici dup Tokyo?!
Senzațional copilul! A progresat de la competiție la competiție. Probabil va mai mbuntți timpul asta.
Geambasu si Emil1986, cei 2 hodorogi din muppets care sufera groaznic dupa teribila veste ca torpila dinamovist este cel mai rapid inotator al lumii 🤣
Performanta incredibila a lui David Popovici. Si nu ma refer la recordul mondial, care nu e asa important. Dar acest baiat exceptional a reusit sa by-pass-eze cele 40 de stiri consecutive din gsp despre jiji, mimi, dica, coman, miculescu, zis micul lewa, mustata si peluza neo nazi care a afus crucea pe stadion, dar aia celticsimbolul ortodoxiei etc. Mi se pare ceva fabulos. Doar din lucrul asta si iti dai seama ca esti contemporanul unei performante cu adevarat istorice.
No comments.
Last edited by miril; 13th August 2022 at 22:30.
"The minority is sometimes right, the majority always wrong." - A Progres...sive Thinker
"If you support a team that fails to win the league for years, it does feel like a kind of cult'." - Salman Rushdie
Avem un campion exceptional. Un fleac
Sportul darama barierele rasismului !!!
Cel care cade dar se ridica este mai puternic decat cel care nu a cazut niciodata.
Deja am si uitat. Peste tot se discuta daca a murit Salam. Vestea tragica, ulterior devenita comica, a pornit de la pro tv, postul de casa al fecsesebistilor.
Deja victorie de salon, la 200, pt torpila nefecesebist. Merit subliniata, desi cu juma' de gura si undeva in josul paginii, orice victorie nefecesebist. Nu uitati ca toti canotorii medaliati cu aur la Miunn sunt de la CS Dinamo Bucuresti, o veste care le-a luat piuitul unor jeguri ca Geambau si Emil 1986.
Probabil ca cei care-l indruma pe Popovici i-au transmis ca nu-i bine sa-si stirbeaza din invicibilitate si ca n-ar fi bine daca ar termina pe 2, 3, nu mai spun in afara podiumului, pentru ca, se pare, ca nu el e favorit in aceasta proba si e posibil sa nu obtina primul loc. Eu asta cred.
O noua monstr de suferinta la capuțu'. Al d-voastra, emil1986, zis duba, utcopos, sos si inca alte 80 de nick-uri pe gsp, unde se aproba, rde si se linge pe ou, de unul singur, de pe zeci de conturi. Acum are o problema cu Popovici, ca nu presteaza si la 400 🤣
Si-a permis sa testeze cam pe unde se situeaza in proba asta si a dedus ca nu merita sa-si risipeasca energiile caci mai are de lucrat. Un lucru inteligent nu o nereusita. La Tokyo multi "specialisti" si chibiti au spus ca ar fi un meteorit. Iata ca nu-i asa ci David este o stea (a nu se confunda cu un anumit...stiu dar nu vreau sa spun) care straluceste (cuvantul vine de la lux si nu se confunda cu Luce
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIQLWdccb8o
"The minority is sometimes right, the majority always wrong." - A Progres...sive Thinker
"If you support a team that fails to win the league for years, it does feel like a kind of cult'." - Salman Rushdie
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