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Popov looking to make history with third gold
Russian swimmer Alexander Popov is aiming to become the first man in the history of the sport to win three Olympic freestyle sprints in a row. He's clearly the man to beat. But to win in Sydney the 28-year-old will face tough competition from a younger generation of swimmers. "First of all it is going to be the third Olympic Games and secondly there are some young kids in the field now, they are pretty fast and good," Popov says. Since the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, Popov and his coach Gennady Touretsky have lived in Australia, training at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra. One could say he feels right at home. "You see, I have no stress and I've got no pressure," he says. "My coach doesn't force me, he doesn't push me. We've been always in the past and will be, I hope, in the future working in harmony. That's one of the reasons why I am still swimming." Popov's 100-meter world record of 48.21 has remained intact since 1994. But with the pool in Sydney having already been the scene of a number of world records, the record could fall this year.
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