Aleksandr Popov (swimmer)

Popov began swimming at age 8 at the Children and Youth Sports School of Fakel Sports Complex in Lesnoy, at that time afraid of water. However, his father insisted on him taking swimming lessons in that sports school, and in his own words, he has "been stuck there ever since". Popov started out as a backstroker but switched to freestyle when he joined Gennadi Touretski's squad in 1990 on the initiative by the head coach of the USSR National Team Gleb Petrov. which would last nearly eight years. Popov finished second in the 100 meter freestyle at the 2000 Olympics. At the 2003 Barcelona World Championships, Popov once again made a clean sweep of the men's 50 m and 100 m freestyle events, citing that Barcelona would always be special to him, for it was there that for him, everything first began. He announced his participation in the 2004 Athens Olympics. Moreover, he was the Flagbearer of Russia in the opening ceremony. Popov was the oldest competitor at the pool, and finished 9th in the men's 50 m and 18th in the 100 m freestyle. He announced his retirement from the sport in January 2005. ==Post swimming==

Popov was elected a full member of the International Olympic Committee in December 1999. He also represents the athletes on the IOC Sport for All Commission and was elected directly as one of seven athletes to the IOC Athletes' Commission by the athletes participating in the 1996 Olympics. He was re-elected to the Athletes Commission at the 2000 Games and is now Honorary Secretary. He was awarded the 1996 Russian Medal of Honour for contributions to sport. He was also named Russian Athlete of the Year and European Sports Press Union Athlete of the Year in 1996. In June 2003, he confirmed that he was permanently leaving Australia in early 2004 to live in Solothurn, Switzerland. He said the move followed the offer of a business proposition in Switzerland, once he had retired from swimming. He retained Touretski as a long-distance coach. Popov earned both a bachelor's and a master's degree in sports coaching from the Russian Academy. He is a spokesman for Omega SA alongside other swimmers such as Ian Thorpe. He appeared at the closing ceremony of the Beijing Olympics after being elected a member of the IOC, presenting flowers to volunteers. He was named to the Evaluation Commission for the 2016 Summer Olympics. In 2009, he served as the chairman of the RC Lokomotiv Moscow rugby league club. Since May 2009 he has been a member of the supervisory board of Adidas. ==Personal life==

In 1997, Popov he married Darya Shmeleva, a Russian Olympic swimmer he had dated since 1995. They have two sons, Vladimir (born 1997) and Anton (born 2000), and a daughter, Mia (born 2010). Popov is a friend of wrestler Aleksandr Karelin. ==Controversy==

On 4 July 2019, the International Olympic Committee accused Alexander Popov, and eight other members of the IOC, of accepting bribes in order to secure their votes for Rio de Janeiro as host of the 2016 Summer Olympics. The former governor of Rio de Janeiro, Sérgio Cabral Filho, contended in court that he paid $2 million to Lamine Diack, the former president of the International Association of Athletics Federation, which it was known as at the time, in order to secure votes. On 5 July 2019, Popov denied these allegations, citing that he did not take any money in return for his vote. ==Honors and awards==

• Order of Merit for the Fatherland, 3rd class • Order of Friendship • Honoured Master of Sports ==See also==