In sport there is always a factor of surpriseand it often happens that favorites, engaged in struggle with each other, lose sight of the next "dark horse", which takes all the trophies. Approximately the same thing happened at the 2016 Olympics in Rio, when a little-known Kazakhstan swimmer Dmitry Balandin unexpectedly won gold at a distance of 200 meters with a breaststroke. About him and will go further.
Leader of the Kazakhstan national swimming team DmitryBalandin was born in Almaty in 1995. The boy's family was extremely athletic: my father was engaged in volleyball, and my mother - in speed skating. There are not so many natural reservoirs in the steppe of Kazakhstan, so the parents decided to give their eight-year-old son to the pool so that he would at least learn to stay on the water.
Before that, the boy had already visited the sports section, accompanying his elder brother.
To engage in swimming Dmitry Balandin began inSDYUSSHOR number 4 under the leadership of Marina Gilmutdinova. Things went smoothly, good results appeared, so Dima's parents were advised to give their son to a special sports school, where he could concentrate on sports. Thus, in 2008, a beginner swimmer went to boarding school for young athletes, where he studied with Ivan Golokhy until 2008.
The first international victory in the biography of a swimmerDmitry Balandin appears already at the age of 14 years. At the youth tournament in Yekaterinburg (Alexander Popov Cup), he managed to beat all his peers and took the first prize. From now on, the young man began to show his best results at distances of 200 and 100 meters of breaststroke. Thus, the preferences of Dmitry Balandin in swimming were determined, which was confirmed by the future of the athlete.
The turning point in his fate was the transition toa group of professionals, when it became clear that it is in sports that he will find his vocation in life. The coach of the guy was Alexey Kazakov, who would later be his personal mentor.
In 2011, Dmitry Igorevich Balandin participatedin the Asian Swimming Championships, where he was one of the best in his age group, winning a silver award. However, if we talk about the global scale, the prospects of the Kazakh athlete seemed rather modest.
At the end of 2013, the leader of the national teamswimming, Dmitry Balandin, slipped in the pool and injured his leg. This somewhat blurred his preparation for the next season, which he began only in February, but it was 2014 that became a real turning point in the young athlete’s career.
Then he finished performances at the junior level and began performing at serious adult competitions.
Так что, когда тренеры прикидывали медальные prospects for the upcoming Asian Games, no one seriously counted on the special achievements of Dmitry, expecting from him a maximum of silver or bronze. As Balandin himself admitted, he planned the same thing.
However, the atmosphere of the big competitionhad a miraculous effect on the Kazakh swimmer, so he unexpectedly won all three gold medals at a distance of 50, 100 and 200 meters of breaststroke.
Triple victory at the Asian Games broughtthe title of ICMC, a monetary reward, and most importantly - a financial grant from the state to prepare for all major tournaments to a native of Kazakhstan. From now on, Dmitry Balandin did not depend on the whims of fate and the mood of the officials, but could easily concentrate on training. The athlete progressed every day, purposefully preparing for the Olympics in Rio.
In 2015, a student of the Kazakh UniversityI went to defend the honor of my native university and country for the summer universiade in Korea. Here he performed well, taking gold on the standpipe and bronze at a distance of fifty meters breaststroke.
However, the main feats expected athlete in 2016year As before the Asian Games in 2014, no one demanded the Balandin impossible at the Olympics, because everyone understood the power of Australian and American swimmers. Even getting into the final would be a good achievement for a Kazakh athlete. But again, the incredible atmosphere of the grand tournament awakened the hidden possibilities of a swimmer.
Он хорошо выступил на дистанции 100 метров, попав in the top ten. True, on his favorite dvuhsotmetrovke hard to get into the final. World champions Marco Koch and American Cordes were considered favorites, but in the decisive heat they only watched in amazement as an unknown swimmer from an unknown country and the eighth lane outsiders confidently sailed first.
Казахстан не избалован изобилием олимпийских champions, especially in such a sport as swimming, so Dmitry Balandin returned to his homeland a true hero. A brand was issued in his honor, a swimming pool was built in his native university, which was named after him, a swimmer was awarded orders and medals, and most importantly - supported financially.
However, as the athlete confessed, all this post-Olympic bustle prevented him from starting preparations for the 2017 World Cup in a timely manner, at which he ended up unsuccessfully.
