Hardly anyone stronger than Anton Chupkov deserved an Olympic gold medal.
By the time of his start, the Russian brassist had collected all possible titles at a 200-meter distance: in 2017, in Budapest, he became the world champion for the first time and defended this title two years later in Korean Gwangju.
He also set a world record, which since then has never been approached by any other swimmer.
All that remained was to put a big golden exclamation mark under this list, and, of course, it was supposed to be a victory in Tokyo.
The scenario seemed so indisputable that even theoretically there was no room in it for any other scenario.
But that is why the Olympic Games are insidious: there are enough strange, inexplicable victories, and at first glance casual defeats.
In the case of Chupkov, everything was different. After Anton became the third at the Games in Rio, having missed the victory in the finishing touch, he not only dreamed of gold, but purposefully walked towards it, carefully eliminating all weaknesses in his own preparation. At the Games in Tokyo, he was ready to break any opponent. But not now, but a year ago. The preparation of the strongest breaststroke in the world was carefully planned not for this July, but for last year, and when it became known that the Games would not take place at the appointed time and would be postponed indefinitely, the athlete was shocked. It was then that we were talking in Moscow with Alexander Nemtyrev, who has been working with Anton for many years.
“I was ready for such a turn of events, which cannot be said about Anton.
When it was announced that there would be no Games in 2020, he almost had tears in his eyes.
I even had to calm down, explain that life does not end there, that nothing can be done, since nothing depends on us.
But the first period was not easy for both of us, ”said the coach.
At the same time, the head coach of the Russian team, Sergei Chepik, also expressed certain concerns.
I noticed that I do not see any advantages at all in the fact that the athletes have an extra year of preparation due to the postponement of the Games.
“The team was ready to start this year.
A number of successful starts at the European Championships, World Championships, which was before that, gave us reason to believe that everything will turn out well in Tokyo.
The same Anton Chupkov was absolutely amazingly ready for the Olympic Games.
Now this flight has been interrupted.
And getting into the top ten twice in a row can be quite difficult, ”explained the head of the national team.
According to Nemtyrev's plans, for the Games in Tokyo, his ward had to be ready to fight not only for gold at a two-hundred-meter distance, but also for medals at the “hundred”.
The first alarm bell sounded in May at the European Championships in Budapest - at the 100-meter breaststroke Chupkov failed to reach the final.
Then this result was explained by the fact that Anton was swimming under load, and I really wanted to believe in it.
Moreover, Chupkov won the second distance, swimming 200 meters in 2: 06.99, and it seemed that everything was already falling into place.
That for the Games Anton, of course, will reach a higher peak of form, and even then the coveted gold medal will not leave him anywhere.
But there was a misfire.
Already from the first start at the 100-meter race, it became clear: at the final stage of preparation for the Games, something went wrong - the two-time world champion qualified for the semifinals, but swam there worse than at the spring selection.
He did not enter the eight and even questioned his right to start in the combined relay, because he lost to Kirill Prigoda.
On Wednesday, it became even more alarming: Chupkov managed to qualify for the final at a distance of 200 meters with only a seventh result and a time of 2: 08.54 - too slow to be sure of the final success.
Swimming is not a sport where it is possible to gather strength and perform a feat if the body is not ready for it.
Anton did everything he could in the final, and it was not his fault that this was not enough.
The swim turned out to be completely crumpled, and the most offensive thing was that it went according to the scenario that, in principle, was predicted: the world record holder habitually let go of his rivals in the first half of the distance, but failed to catch up with them in the second.
They simply did not allow it.
Although a year ago it was absolutely impossible to imagine an Olympic podium with Australian Isaac Stubblety Cook, Dutchman Arno Cumminga and Finn Matti Mattson.
In the mixed zone Anton said: "This is probably my last international start."
But it was clear from the eyes that the swimmer still cannot, does not want, is not ready to believe what happened at the distance.
And that, in fact, the tone in which the words about the possible end of a career are pronounced implies a completely different phrase: "Yes, it’s all to waste!"
Against this background, the bronze of Kliment Kolesnikov at the 100-meter freestyle (47.44) was not at all perceived as something tragic.
And it was not like that: the silver medalist of a similar distance on his back from the very beginning of the distance chased 13-time world champion Caleb Dressel and simply could not stand the proposed pace.
Or maybe he just threw out all his strength in the semifinals, where he swam the “hundred” with a European record in 47.11 seconds, and did not have time to recover.
The rest of the day turned out to be quite optimistic: the Olympic champion in the 100-meter backstroke Evgeny Rylov confidently won the semi-final in the 200-meter swimming, Svetlana Chimrova finished fifth in the 200-meter butterfly, and at the same distance with the breaststroke Evgenia Chikunova has the second semifinal result before tomorrow's final, which means, if not a medal, then at least a fight for it. And in conclusion, the Russian girls became the fifth in the 4x200 m freestyle relay, which was won by the Chinese team with a world record.