AGERPRES special correspondent to Paris, France, Adrian Tone reports:
Romanian swimmer David Popovici said on Wednesday night that he was not disappointed with the bronze medal he had won in the men's100 m freestyle event at the Paris Olympic Games, but he felt calm and a little happier than after the gold medal in the men's 200 m freestyle.
"I'm not disappointed at all [with bronze], I'm calmer and maybe a little happier than after the gold, because now I can relax. Back then, even though I won the gold, I was thinking that I had to rest very well because I was going to have another Olympic event. In this final I gave my best, it's the only thing that matters, more than that I couldn't do, and I think the elements I was focusing on came out quite well, the undulations, the turn, the exit, boring details. Now I'm done, I can see Paris too, because I've been here for so many days and I haven't seen anything," he said after the 100m freestyle final.
"My real goal was not necessarily to have fun, but to feel good, because when you get to the Olympics everything is so tense that you don't feel like laughing and having fun. But my main goal was for the races to turn out the way I trained for them. And I think I got pretty close. The fact that I've earned two medals makes me even happier," Popovici added.
He said swimming is "cruel" and rankings are established at extremely small differences, of only one hundredth of a second.
"I'm better on the second part of the race. I'm not that tall, or muscular, I don't have such a strong start, I'm not a thoroughbred sprinter, but I have more stamina than them, being thinner let's say, but also from the training I did every day, the difference was made by two hundredths, one hundredth of a second. I finished one hundredth of a second behind the second place, and one hundredth of a second ahead of the 4th place. That's the sport; it's cruel."
Popovici was impressed by the world record set by the Chinese Zhanle Pan in the 100 m freestyle: "It's extraordinary, I have nothing to say, hat off to him, he beat his world record by a lot. Kudos to him, that means even more motivation for me and the others who came out behind him."
He won the bronze medal in the 100m freestyle on Wednesday evening at the Paris Olympics, in a final in which China's Zhanle Pan won gold and set a new world record.
The final was a formidable one, the fastest in history, with Pan breaking his own record (46.80) and winning gold in 46.40. Silver went to former Australian Olympic champion Kyle Chalmers (47.48), as Popovici clocked in at 47.49 on third position.
The Romanian swimmer was seventh in the men's100m freestyle final in 2021 at the Tokyo Olympics, when he was just 16 years old.
He was also a world record holder in the 100m freestyle (46.86), but Pan outperformed him at 46.80.
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