2021 Tokyo Olympics | Indian swimmers have so much room to be faster, claims Genadijus Sokolovas

Indians have never made a name for themselves in swimming, with medals hard to come by at multi-sports events. Srihari Nataraj and Kushagra Rawat are all gearing up to match the elusive A-Mark Olympic Qualifying Time ahead of the 2021 Games, with the Srihari and Kushagra already achieving the B-Mark.

Genadijus Sokolovas, a renowned physiologist and sports science expert feels that Indian swimmers have much more room to be faster inside the pool. The US-based expert was present in Bangalore at the invitation of the Swimming Federation of India, interacting with top swimmers at the national camp, at the Dravid-Padukone Centre for Sports Excellence (CSE).

“They have so much room to be faster. It’s about learning how to swim correctly. The main thing for Indian swimmers is to develop a better beginning to their strokes. It’s important not to overuse the arm; they need to use the body to get faster,” said Genadijus Sokolovas.

Last Monday, Sokolovas was involved in a session with Srihari and Nataraj, with former coming up with various exercises using dumbbells, wrist weights and pull buoys to improve the kicking technique.

“Initially when he showed me the review and the analysis, I felt like, ‘do I even know how to swim’. That is how much he could find out about the changes I could make. I tried making some of them and I felt a lot smoother and also in control. Just shows how much there is for us to work on and improve,” said Srihari Nataraj.