POPOV'S PREPARATION
The Magic Sevens
- "Seven years of initial preparation, seven developmental years,
then seven years to perform at the top."
- "In 1000 starts since 1990, I can hardly find three races
that Alex lost."
- The key to Popov's success: "Talent plus consistent
hard work, and working non - stop for perfection."
- "Between Barcelona 1992, and Atlanta 1996, his weight increased
by 3 kg (6.6 lbs), and so his technique has changed."
- "As an athlete since Barcelona, Popov has learned to read
fear in the eye of opponents, how to communicate with the media, and even
how to manage life in Australia."
- "Popov has a good education in coaching science, understands
how to train, and to be fit for a race. Few people know he was sick at
the World Championships in Rome in 1994, and at the European Championships
in Vienna in 1995. The reason was that he lost his adaptation reserve as
a result of the high intensity work three weeks before the start."
·
- "Popov's technique is based on the three Rs: Rhythm,
Relaxation, and Range."
- "Before Atlanta, Popov did not believe that someone would
break 49.0 seconds. It took me quite some time to explain to him that they
would swim around 48.6 seconds."
Touretski on Sprint Training
- "Because of the development of better classification of training
workloads, endurance development methods have made it possible to increase
endurance specifically. But sprint training in swimming is complex, and
perhaps at a lower level of evolution than that of other swimming events."
- "I think that there is no such thing in sprint events as the
speed factor limiting the performance, but there is a complicated whole
that brings together strength, agility, endurance and flexibility into
a multi - component 'alloy' which can be called
'Individual Highly Efficient Swimming Technique' (IHEFST)
or the widely known name - good technique."
(From "The Preparation of Alexander Popov for the 1996 Atlanta
Olympic Games," presented by Coach Gennadi Touretski, at the American
Swimming Coaches' Association World Clinic, San Diego, September
1996. Reprinted with Permission.)
Home |
E-Mail |
Top of Page |
Oct 96 Contents |
Magazine
Mag Archives |
Calendar |
World Rankings |
Meet Results |
Links to Sites
Photo Library |
Biographies |
Forums |
Shopping |
Classifieds
About SWIMNEWS ONLINE
COPYRIGHT © 1995-1998 SWIMNEWS MAGAZINE, All Rights Reserved.
URL: http://swimnews.com