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Miracle man Popov defies death to compete again
By Terry Baddoo, CNNSI.com SYDNEY - - In an era when the term "survivor" can be stretched to describe the winner of a TV show, double world-record holder Alexander Popov is the real McCoy. It was in 1996, just weeks after he claimed his eighth Olympic medal with his second golden double in the 50 and 100 meters, that the Russian freestyler was stopped in his tracks by a knife. A scuffle with a street vendor in Moscow left him fighting for his life for 30 days. Having emerged from that ordeal, Popov's comeback has been spectacular to the extent that a record equaling third Olympic double, and record 12th Olympic medal are now well within his grasp. "First of all it's going to be the third Olympic Games," Popov says. "And secondly, it's going to be just, you know, there are some young kids in the field now and they are pretty fast and pretty good." Forewarned is forearmed of course, and Popov is expected to face a serious challenge from among others, European short-course champion Lars Frolander of Sweden, and hometown hero Michael Klim. But despite the threat, the Russian retains an air of confidence, due in part to a great relationship with his coach Genady Touretsky, who's trained him in Australia for the last seven years. "You see I have no stress and I've got no pressure," Popov said. "My coach doesn't force me. He doesn't push me. We've always in the past, and will be, I hope, in the future working in the harmony. That's one of the reasons why I am still swimming." Still swimming and still pushing the boundaries as the fastest man in the water and the favorite for the double Olympic gold. With Popov set to be joined on the blocks with Gary Hall of the United States and Peter van den Hoogenband of Holland and Australia's Klim, Olympic fans could be in store for an explosive couple of finals.
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