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Romania's rising swimming star, 17-year-old David Popovici, said today at his return from the European Short Course Swimming Championships (25m) in Kazan (Russia) where he took the gold in the 200m freestyle event, that he is happy he was able to write "a bit of history" in Romanian swimming and that his ambition is to become the world's best.
"I'm glad that we were able to attend this European championship, that we were able to compete. We were very united and we had fun too. Vlad [Stancu] and I, as the youngest there, acquired a lot of experience and enjoyed everything. And I'm glad that I was able to write a bit of history for what Romanian swimming means. I had fun in the final, the entire competition was for me to gain more experience and to see what I can do in a meet type I don't yet perfectly master, in a half-Olympic pool. I'm glad I became European short course champion now, but I'm aware that many of my opponents were missing, they didn't come for some reasons. It would have been far more intense if they had been there too. I'm glad I won, my goal is to become the world's best, and it will certainly happen in the next years. I believe that at the Tokyo Olympics I learned to better control my emotions, to better view my lane and focus on what I know to do best," Popovici said at the 'Henri Coanda' International Airport, where the Romanian delegation was welcomed by Minister of Youth and Sports Eduard Novak, president of the Romanian Swimming and Modern Pentathlon Federation Camelia Potec, and president of the Dynamo sports club, Ionut Popa.
Regarding the incident in the 400m event, when he mistakenly stopped before the end of the race, Popovici said that he did a counting error which will never repeat again.
"There are 16 short pool lengths at the 400m event and I simply blundered the count, but I learned from that and I don't think it will happen any time soon," said the European champion.
Romanian swimmer David Popovici won the gold medal in the men's 200m freestyle on Saturday at the European Short Course Swimming Championships (25m) in Kazan (Russia), clocking 1:42.12.
This is the first gold medal in the history of Romanian participation in the European Short Course Championships, after 4 silver and 8 bronze medals.
Team Romania claimed three medals at this competition, one gold won by David Popovici in the 200m freestyle, and a silver and a bronze one secured by Robert Glinta in the men's 100m backstroke and 50m backstroke, respectively.
