Four-time Olympic gold medalist and current International Swimming Hall of Fame member Alexander Popov was nominated over the weekend by the The Shooting Union of Russia to become the president of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC).
The nomination comes after Alexander Zhukov’s decision to not stand for re-election earlier this month.
The Shooting Union provided a statement that was originally reported by Russia’s official state news agency, TASS:
“His many years of work in the Executive Committee of the ROC, and also as chairman of the public council at the Ministry of Sport of the Russian Federation, shows his knowledge of the real state of affairs in Russian sports.
“The Shooting Union believes that, in the current realities and existing systemic problems with the position of President, the ROC needs a professional who is not only able to resolve issues within the country, but also at an international level in order to bring Russia back to the status of a strong sports power in the international Olympic Movement.
“This is exactly what Alexander Popov has.”
The deadline for applications was today as each candidate had to be nominated by an ROC member sports federation. The election will take place May 29 and Popov will be up against four-time Olympic fencing champion Stanislav Pozdnyakov. Pozdnyakov was nominated by the Russian Cross Country Skiing Federation last month.
Popov is considered one of the greatest sprint freestylers in history as he won the 50 and 100m freestyle Olympic crowns in 1992 and 1996. Popov is one of three men (Johnny Weismuller and Pieter van den Hoogenband) to successfully defend the 100 free Olympic crown, and is one of two (Gary Hall, Jr.) to successfully defend in the 50.
Popov is also the only man to win the 100m free at the FINA World Championships three times as he won in 1994, 1998 and 2003.
Popov is a member of the International Swimming Hall of Fame as he was honored in to the hall in 2009.
Inside the Games as well as TASS contributed to this report.
<3 Popov <3
Hopefully he won’t win the nomination as it will tarnish his amazing reputation as one of the greatest sprinters ever. Anyone who serves under Putin will do Putin’s bidding whether they like it or not.