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Georgi Popov became famous for his excellent performance in a number of triathlon competitions and it is not anywhere but in the United States - the country where this most difficult, but also attractive sport enjoys great popularity. We used the opportunity that our fellow citizen was in his hometown for Christmas and New Year to talk to him and find out more details about his successes in America.
Since when did you start doing sports?
- From the age of 6 I started to do swimming because it is a traditional sport for Velingrad. That was in 1988, I was sickly then and my parents wanted me to do swimming to grow physically and as a matter of fact swimming really helped me to gain immunity and be healthy. For a long time after that, I had no illnesses. I first started under Coach V. Kleshkov in PC "Chepinets" and since 1996. in PK Belmeken.
When did you become interested in triathlon?
- In 1997. I participated in the Republican Swimming Championship and that ended the competitive season. The older competitors stayed to train, but after June there were no other competitions. The only remaining was the triathlon championship, which was held in Plovdiv. It was my first race and I came in second in juniors. Then I achieved good results in swimming and running.
- Did you know anything in advance about triathlon as a sport?
- I knew it was the toughest sport in the world and that it was very complicated to build endurance for the triathlon and gain the body of a triathlete. This sport requires the development of different muscle groups for each of its constituent sports. For swimming, more muscle mass is required, for running, the body is required to be lighter, and for cycling, more leg muscles are required, and the upper body is not very developed.
- Are there any ideal proportions for the body of a triathlete?
- In principle, it is very relative to talk about an ideal body, but definitely the triathlete should be of lower stature. This guarantees him greater economy during the long race, especially at the Olympic distance. Especially for the IRON MEN competition, the more economical athletes managed to keep their strength for 10-12 hours.
How did you end up in the U.S.?
- I have swimming friends who went to study in the United States on sports scholarships. These are Stanimir Kachakov and Maya Nikolova. I used to keep in touch with them on the Internet. When I was studying in Sofia, I was already a member of the national triathlon team and they offered me to go to America on a student brigade. They found me a good job offer in 2003 as well. I went to the United States. My friends put me in touch with one of Cleveland's sports figures. Special S. Kachakov helped me a lot, and his friends provided me with a bike and information about triathlon competitions. In the first race, I just decided to give it a try because I didn't know what level the triathlon was at in the United States. Moreover, the rules are different than in Europe. For example, in America it is not allowed to drive in groups or one after the other, but individually, at a greater distance.
- Tell about your participation in the various competitions and naturally for IRON MEN?
- In 2003. I participated in 10 starts, of which I won 8, my biggest success was in Cincinnati, where I became first at Olympic distance. In 2004 I participated in 14 races. One of them was in San Francisco, we started from the Alcatraz prison. That's where I became the 10th. Then there were 12 races in the Central States of America, winning all 12. In three of them I also improved the state records on the respective routes. The last race was the IRON MEN again in Cincinnati on the same track where I had become first last year. We swam 4 km, cycled 180 km and finished with a marathon run of 42 km and 200 m. I came second in this tough race, with the only one who beat me being the Canadian champion.
- Are there any interesting events or moments from these competitions?
- There really are a lot of interesting happenings. In Alcatraz, for example, it was very exciting because we started from prison and had to jump into the ocean from a rock 15 meters high. The water temperature was only 8 degrees and it was very cold. At another race in Lorraine during cycling, I broke my toe, but I was able to finish and I got there first. A week later, I was back in it, even though I had a leg brace. I took it off and duct taped the broken finger to the healthy one, and that's how I got involved.
- What do you expect from the future as a student and as a competitor?
- My scholarship is in "cross country" (running cross country) at a distance of 8 km. I'm going to try to prepare myself, except for running, to keep fit in swimming and cycling. And in the summer, I'm going to participate in triathlon competitions again, which are included in the calendar of the Association of Colleges in the United States.
- Do you see yourself as a professional racer after you finish your training?
- I hope that in 2 years at university running training will help me to improve this discipline as much as possible and become a more complex racer. And then there's another year left until the 2008 Olympics. This is the period in which the quotas for the Olympics are allocated. I hope by then I'll be healthy, I'll feel good, and I'll try.
- Your wish for 2005?
- I wish the readers of v. "Tempo" a lot of health and fulfillment of their dreams, and to my family and loved ones I want to thank for the fact that they have always supported me in everything.
Georgi Stoyanov