ASIA: All of Kazakhstan Will Be Drinking Tonight

2016 RIO OLYMPIC GAMES

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• Swimming: August 6-13
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After winning the Olympic gold medal in the men’s 200 breaststroke Dmitriy Balandin of Kazakhstan was asked how he thought his home country would celebrate, he gave a very honest answer, “I think all of Kazakhstan will be drinking tonight.”

By winning the men’s 200 breaststroke on Wednesday night Balandin becomes the first Kazakhstani swimmer to win a medal at the Olympics, “This is the biggest honour and the biggest thing I could have given to my country,” the 21 year old told the press.

“I’m very proud of that. Actually, it’s history, because it’s the first medal in swimming for Kazakhstan and I’m very happy that I’m the one that got it.”

Balandin won the race in a new national record time of 2:07.46

The closet a Kazakhstani swimmer has been to winning an Olympic medal came in 2004 when Vladislav Polyakov finished fifth in both the 100 and 200 breaststroke in Athens. Polyakov, who is an assistant coach at the University of Louisville, two years later became the first swimmer from Kazakhstan to win gold at a major international competition taking the men’s 200 breaststroke at the 2006 Short Course World Championships.

“I do feel a huge sense of pride,” Polyakov said in reference to having set the table a decade ago for Kazakh breaststrokers. “I want to believe that my teammate Evgeniy Ryzhkov and myself had a big influence on the new generation of swimmers in Kazakhstan with what we were able to accomplish for swimming in our country. There is a very strong breaststroke tradition in Kazakhstan swimming!”

“Dima has always been a unique talent,” Polyakov said. “I first spotted him swimming at a Kazakhstan Junior national meet in Taraz, Kazakhstan back in 2010. He was just 14 at the time, but went something like a 2:21 and it looked extremely effortless, with a super long stroke. He was working with one of the top Kazakhstan coaches at the time (Alexey Kazakov), who is known for his aerobic distance training style. He got Dima to go as fast as 2:13 in the 200 breaststroke back in 2013 at Junior Wolds.”

It may have been a surprise for some to see Balandin take the event from lane eight, but two years ago he showed that this moment could be on the horizon. At the 2014 Asian Games he won gold in the 50, 100 and 200 breaststroke. His improvement in the 200 was incredible going from a lifetime best of 2:13.53 to a 2:07.67. That result came after a year of working with Dimitri Mantsevich, who lives and coaches in Slovenia. Mantsevich previously had been the coach of World Champion sprinter Aleksandra Herasimenia of Belarus.

“I think Mantsevich’s training style was the difference maker for Balandin,” Polyakov said. “He was injured for the majority of the 2014-2015 season but still managed a gold at the University games and two final swims in Kazan.”

He was not able to replicate that type of performance in 2015, but did finish fifth at the World Championships in Kazan recording a time of 2:09.58.

Combining the improvements he made in 2014 with the experienced he gained in 2015 Balandin was ready for a breakthrough in Rio, “I’m not very surprised. We were working towards this. We did everything we could and finally we achieved it.”

Although the win did not come as a surprise he was still in shock after accomplishing the feat, “To be honest I cannot think I have comprehended right now that I’ve got Olympic gold. I might need a week to 10 days to produce an adequate reaction.”

Having to swim in the outside lane did present Balandin with some unique challenges that he handled with great success, “There is a positive and a negative side to swimming in the end lane. When you’re swimming at the end, on one hand you don’t see your opponents so it’s very hard to know how well you’re swimming.”

“On the other hand it’s a plus because when you don’t see them you can concentrate on your own race and not get distracted.”

Before the race he made a pact with one of his good friends Anton Chupkov of Russia, who was racing in lane seven, “So Anton and I agreed that if I can’t see anybody ahead of me, I would look at him, and he would look for me.”

It worked out for both swimmers as Chupkov earned the bronze.

As it is for any athlete winning Olympic gold was a dream come true for Balandin, “I don’t think it’s a good athlete who doesn’t dream of a gold medal. What I would like to do now is thank everyone who has supported me.”

“He will definitely return home a hero,” Polyakov emoted of his countrymate. “Every gold medal for Kazakhstan is precious, so hopefully this will give swimming a little more publicity and put more money into the sport in Kazakhstan. The least they can do is renovate or build new training facilities, I feel like I can count the number of pools in Kazakhstan on my two hands. There is so much talent in Kazakhstan.”

It may have been a text from his predecessor that put Balandin over the edge after finishing in just 8th-place there.

“I actually texted him right after the 100 race with a little pep talk,” said Polyakov of the conversation. “He seemed to be down on himself after finishing 8^th, so I gave him a couple of pointers with the bottom line being ‘at this level if you have a lane, you have a chance.’

After the gold medal, Polyakov’s message was a little more basic and spoke for all of Kazakhstan.

“A bunch of ‘woohoos’ and ‘Yeses!’ after he won.”

Asian Records Broken On Day 5:

Asia Swimming Medal Table As of Day 5: