Courtesy of David Popovici and his coach Adrian Radulescu, not to mention the swimmer's parents ad the approach writ large in the letter below translated from the original published in a home newspaper, Romania claimed gold and bronze in the pool.

Any the foot of this file, for subscribes, an archive article added to the SOS+ library. It's from the European Championships in Rome 2022, the season that witnessed a 46.86 World record and a sub-1:43 200m freestyle. From a couple of interviews, a ton of insight.

What Popovici and coach Radulescu said back in 2022 resonates not only with his performances in Paris but what the swimmer's father, Mihai Popovici, had to tell Sport in Romania's Dumitru Graur after his son had an Olympic gold medal in his pantheon.

Paris 2024:

Popovici Pips Richards By 0.02 As 1st Romanian Man To Pan For Gold In Pool

“I feel amazing. It is so great to be here. So many Romanians in the crowd. It’s beautiful, it’s a dream come true. I don’t know how to describe it. It’s so simple, yet so beautiful.” - David Popopvici, 19

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord

Pan Went Where Marchand, McIntosh & McKeown Could Not: WR, 46.40, By The Biggest Winning Margin Since Tarzan in 1928

You have to go back to Johnny Weissmuller, Tarzan no less, in 1928 before to find a bigger winning margin than Pan’s

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord

A stirring note every parent could benefit from - by Mihai Popovici - follows... plus, our archive of insight into Popovici's development

Next in the series - No11 and No 10: Germany and Ireland ... after the marathons are done, with nations having podium chances in the 10km races on August 8-9.