Popovich leaves with 4 Paralympic golds
BEIJING (AP)—Erin Popovich thinks it might be time to get a job.
Here’s something for the resume: four gold medals and two silver in swimming at the Paralympics. Even better, she won 10 gold medals in the last two Paralympics, bringing her total to 14. Add to that five silver medals in her three Paralympics.
Popovich might have gone home with six gold in Beijing, but she had to settle for silver in two weekend races—the 50-meter butterfly on Saturday and the 50 freestyle on Sunday.
“Four long years of hard work and training paid off,” said Popovich, who trained for the games with the Colorado State swim team. Six days a week, as much as five hours a day, Popovich has been working toward Beijing, particularly after graduating last December.
“I guess I should find a job sometime soon,” she said, with the swimming competition ending Monday and the Paralympics finishing Wednesday.
The 23-year-old swimmer has been compared to Michael Phelps, who won eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics.
“We have a lot of drive and determination. We’re extremely competitive both in swimming and just in life,” she said. “To even be mentioned in the same sentence … is a tremendous honor for me, to be seen in the same light as that is huge.”
Popovich has a form of dwarfism and competes against other child-sized athletes and swimmers with other disabilities.
She churns through the water with thick arms and powerful legs, beating opponents like Huang Min of China by more than 6 seconds in the 200-meter individual medley and nearly 4 seconds in the 100-meter breaststroke.
But it was also the slender Huang who dashed Popovich’s hopes of pulling off another all-gold performance at the Paralympics, winning the gold in the 50-meter butterfly Saturday.
“Popovich has won lots of golds, but this one belongs to me,” Huang said. “Everyone who’s truly devoted can be successful.”
Popovich, selected by teammates as one of four captains of the U.S. squad, smiled and gamely answered questions after Huang ruined her perfect record in Beijing.
Popovich’s dominance in the pool is testament to her hard work.
“I’d love to say I could just hop in the water and swim fast,” she said. “Unfortunately that’s not the case.”
On Sunday, she was upset by American teammate Cortney Jordan in the 50 freestyle. Jordan finished in 33.84 seconds, with Popovich at 33.92. It was Jordan’s first gold in these games to go with two silver—100 freestyle and 400 freestyle—and a bronze in the 200 individual medley.
“I was so shocked,” Jordan said, still panting five minutes after the race. “I had no idea that was going to happen. Oh, my gosh, I can’t believe I just did that. It was amazing and something I will remember for the rest of my life.”
Popovich was again a gracious loser.
“I put my best effort forth,” she said. “Cortney just had a phenomenal swim tonight. She did wonderful, she deserves it.”
The United States had another four-gold winner in Jessica Long, who fell short in an effort for a fifth gold Sunday and finished fifth in the 50 freestyle. Long won gold in the 100 butterfly, 100 freestyle, 200 individual medley and 400 free. She also won silver in the 100 backstroke and bronze in the 100 breaststroke.
At Colorado State, Popovich approached the swim team with a simple question: “Any way I can swim?”
The team agreed to let her try. She’s been with them for five years, doing the same drills and workouts as the able-bodied athletes, though she makes adjustments such as swimming 350 meters instead of 400 to stay with the group.
Popovich majored in health and exercise science. Like any other athlete in school, keeping on top of a busy scedule was no easy thing.
“To put school and swimming together and make it work and be successful in both—managing your life to fit both things—that was a challenge,” she said.
“I’ve looked into going into medical school—that’s definitely in the plans. There’s a lot of different things. I’m not quite sure what to do.”
But one thing’s definite: swimming.
“I have no thoughts of retiring,” she said.
