A former swimmer has revealed how David Popovici managed to finish two-hundredths of a second ahead of his chasing rival and take Olympic gold.
The Romanian swimmer finished in first position in the 200-meter freestyle final, although he was in third position halfway through the race.
What was the detail that brought the Olympic gold to David Popovici
David Popovici achieved, on Monday evening, the sensational performance of finishing in first place in the final race of the 200 meters freestyle event, despite being chasing first place for most of the race. In the middle of the final race, the Romanian swimmer was in 3rd place, and at the time of the last lap of the pool, the young athlete was in second position.
Former Great Britain swimmer Mark Foster has spotted the moment when David Popovici would have created the advantage he needed to win Olympic gold. More precisely, at the end of the race, the Romanian athlete could have touched the final wall only with his fingers, while his opponent, Matt Richards, would have made a wider movement, which would have made him lose more time.
“Popovici probably touched the wall with his fingers, while Matt raised his palm and pressed the panel with his palm instead of using his fingers. It’s not a mistake, there are small decisions you have to make at the end of a race,” said Mark Foster, according to the Metro publication.
- David Popovici is going to compete in the 100 meters freestyle on Tuesday.
Ilie Năstase, words of praise for David Popovici
Ilie Năstase spoke exclusively for ProSport, about David Popovici’s astonishing performance in the 200-meter freestyle at the Paris Olympics. More, the former world leader of the ATP ranking sounded the alarm related to the lack of support for Romanian athletes from the state.
“From him this performance was expected, from others it was not really expected. I saw that it was a very close race, a few centimeters, but it doesn’t matter how many there were, two to five centimeters, he won!
According to me, the Olympics means a marathon of 42 kilometers. It doesn’t mean football, basketball or tennis. They put in all these sports. In my opinion, it should not be called the Olympics anymore. The Olympics comes from Greece, from the 42 kilometer marathon. A lot of sports were included, which have nothing to do with the Olympics.
(no, what do you think the success of David Popovici will produce in Romania?) There is no way it will produce, because sport is not a priority in this country of ours. Nothing is a priority here. The priority is to steal and deceive people among themselves. When they invest in sports, as they invest in all civilized countries, you will see the difference.
I don’t think Popovici’s victory will give an impetus, it’s too little! If all the prime ministers who were in government said that sport is not a priority… it means that we are in bad shape. I think so, that we are lost. I don’t think 10% of what was invested in my time is invested. Popovici performed before and he still didn’t invest. I hope they invest, but I don’t think so,” said Ilie Năstase, exclusively for ProSport.
The post How David Popovici won the two hundredths of a second for Olympic gold. The former swimmer’s verdict: what happened underwater appeared first on Prosport.
Source: www.prosport.ro
