“I want them to remember me in 100 years. Fatigue is happiness»- Corriere.it

BUCHAREST At 7 in the morning the streets of Bucharest are not very busy. From the center, a large avenue leads in 10 minutes to the Dinamo academy, a white building with a sign messy. A series of cars deposit kids with bags. Once inside, one discovers a fully equipped center with two swimming pools and a world already in full swing, and one wonders at what time of the night it started. Among children in the water, in lane 7, a head without a headset pops up who carefully listens to the directions of a thirty-year-old in a red T-shirt. The head of David Popovici, the boy who will change the history of swimming and has already moved forward a bit: at 18, he won gold in the 100m and 200m at the World Championships
(the first swimmer in 49 years to do so in the same edition), at the European Championships in Rome he set the world record of the 100m (46”86) and the bets are open as to when to beat the one of the 200m which has been resisting since 2009. Slender physique , magnetic gaze, the face of a national hero, the one (after Nadia Comaneci) that Romania has chosen to give the image of a modern country, superior head: write down this name, you will hear about him for a long time.

David what is your first memory?

I remember we went to a national park, park 23, I had skates and I ran with my brother. He had won a medal, perhaps at school, I don’t know in which competition I absolutely wanted it and was trying to snatch it from him. A sign of destiny I would say!.

Do you also remember your first contact with water? What did she try? Fear, a sense of welcome?

I’ve never been afraid of water, it was natural for me to come into contact with it. I remember the first teacher, I was 4 or 5 years old, teaching us to blow air bubbles, like goldfish. He still does it with his students! From the beginning the water has given me wonderful sensations and they have never gone away: when I retire, I will continue to swim very often.

When did you realize this was your destiny?

From four to six years old it was almost a game, I went swimming two or three times a week in the summer mostly to get exercise for my scoliosis. Then at the age of 7 a choice presented itself: to continue like this, to stop or to do it seriously. I chose this path and a sport oriented primary school where I started swimming once a day. With the first races I fell in love with the competition: just swimming shoulder to shoulder with someone who can beat you or who you can beat gave me a very strong adrenaline rush.

Her father Mihai, a former manager who works to ensure that this academy creates a swimming tradition in Bucharest (her mother, on the other hand, a psychologist) told us that, unlike the other children, she didn’t get upset or angry when she lost.

very true.

And how are you today when you (rarely) lose?

In a way the same as when I was a child. Obviously I don’t like losing but I don’t feel angry at the world. Indeed it can be a very useful lesson. The last time it happened, in December at the World Championships in short course, I had gone beyond all my expectations: I had collected a fourth place with the junior world record and a second in the 200m freestyle. I don’t mean it was nice but it was reassuring: I don’t want to get used to the idea of ​​never being able to lose, because it could go to my head.

true that he wakes up at 5 and has breakfast in bed with his eyes closed?

When I was younger I was too tired to go to the kitchen so my parents made me something and brought it to bed: then it became a tradition, something “ours” … Now I hardly do it anymore, sometimes I even get up at 5.45 .

Practically on vacation. Joking aside, she often says that her hard work and effort make her happy: can you explain to us how can you be happy when you come one step away from throwing up in training due to effort?

Pain and suffering are part of life, you can’t expect them not to be there. If you spend every moment of your life trying to be happy, you only get small doses of false happiness, a little bit of dopamine in your head. But if you try to live a balanced life, which includes moments of pain and suffering, bad days and days when the sun is enough to make you happy, then I think you can live a better life. Maybe the workout hurts at the moment but when you lie down on the bed you feel that you have completed your goal for the day and you are ready for the next one. You know you did your best and that is very important.

The principles of the Stoic philosophy which inspire it re-emerge.

It was my coach who made me read a book by Seneca: at first I had a hard time understanding them, then I began to appreciate them and now I try to apply certain principles in my daily life. I think the Stoics were really trying to live a happy life, not in the conventional sense, full of laughter, or material things. True happiness is a peaceful, balanced life.

She often says that hard work is the secret to her success. Not a little too simple cos? Breaststroke champion Adam Peaty just stopped with mental issues, being a professional swimmer seems like a tough job.

true, it seems simple but so. Hard work is the means to the end. There are many other aspects to manage: nutrition, lifestyle, social life. And even all this is not enough. You have to be serious in the important moments but also not exaggerate. Everything needs a balance: if I can find it between an obsession with sport and the goals I want to achieve and the pleasure of relaxing by reading a book, listening to music (rap, Romanian or international), walking in the open air, then I’m peace: I prefer to say this is how I am happy, this is how I want to be.

He said his goal to be remembered in 100 years: pretty ambitious, don’t you think?

What kind of mark does he want to leave: on the eye I’d say he’s not just talking about records and medals.


Yes, I said it, right. The sign I want to leave is not linked to the number of records or medals, they can even be hundreds: these will make me remember but they won’t let me leave my mark. What I want others to take advantage of the gift I have received, that my talent, my image and my voice inspire others, helping them to live a better life, a healthy life. I would like to help people, using my image and my voice, making them understand how lucky we are, for example, to be sitting here in this hotel doing this interview and talking about everything.

Are you the most famous person in Romania today?
How has his life changed with popularity?

I don’t know if I’m the most famous person but it’s true that nine out of ten people recognize me when I walk down the street. Some want a selfie, some an autograph.. I like having a powerful image, a voice that is listened to: I can use it for what I want to achieve but it’s true that it’s not easy to manage this fame, which has arrived suddenly. I had to adapt: ​​at first it was so much fun, everyone thinks about what it would be like to be famous and I thought about it too, then it became very tiring and I almost didn’t want to go out, I always felt watched, now I’m in the phase where I accept the situation and I try to take advantage of the possibilities that being famous offers me, indeed, known: famous is not a word I like. Now I’m at ease, I’m at peace.

Can you tell us about your relationship with your coach, Adrian Radulescu? for him who decided not to go to the US?

one of the main reasons. It is true that in the USA the infrastructures, the tools for physical recovery are much more advanced but I think that the most important thing, especially in individual sports, is the chemistry between the athlete and the coach. He and I are friends, we have great respect for each other but we also have a healthy athlete-coach relationship: there is the right balance – again I use this word – between friendship and professionalism, something I could not find nowhere else and I don’t want to look anywhere else. The same goes for the physiotherapist and the driven coach.

Among the swimmers your idol Phelps? What about outside swimming?

I followed Phelps a lot but I can’t call him an idol, I haven’t found any yet. I have an excellent relationship with Paltrinieri, a fine example of a famous person who remained normal. And outside of swimming I really admire Denzel Washington, I appreciate him because he is a simple person, I would like to meet him.

In the 50th anniversary collection of Arena, of which you are testimonial, you have chosen the dragonfly as the animal that best represents you, because?

small and non-threatening, yet flies gracefully above the water, leaving predators behind. The precision of the dragonfly routine describes my training. His wings are a symbol of freedom, therefore of freestyle.