Despite Roman Mityukov's bronze medal, Markus Buck, Head of Competitive Swimming at Swiss Aquatics, is also a little wistful.
After the two bronze medals three years ago in Tokyo by Jérémy Desplanches (200 m medley) and Noè Ponti (100 m dolphin), Roman Mityukov once again made it onto the Olympic podium in Paris with third place in the 200 m backstroke. Ponti also made the final in the 100 m and 200 m dolphin, finishing fourth and fifth respectively. A decade ago, such a Swiss record in swimming at the Olympic Games would have been described as sensational.
But expectations have risen with the current generation. That's why Markus Buck was "a little wistful" after Ponti's 4th place, although he immediately put it into perspective: "That's complaining at a very high level." Buck was also pleased that they had fought their way back after a difficult start. None of the Swiss team made it through the heats on the first two days.
Antonio Djakovic, who was not quite fit, had to settle for 17th (200 m crawl) and 23rd (400 m), and breaststroke specialist Lisa Mamié also did not get up to speed as desired, finishing 17th (100 m) and 23rd (200 m). At the European Championships in Rome in June, the two had each won a medal in these disciplines. There was also a World Championships on the agenda in February.
"Of course that takes its toll, even if not everyone competed in every single highlight," said Buck. At the same time, the Olympic Games are not just about being fit to the point, but even more about being able to deal with the pressure and everything that goes with it. "That was a challenge for us." As a result, the Swiss fell short of their own expectations in terms of best times.
Nevertheless, the prospects are bright. Although Paris was the last competition for long-time Swiss figurehead Jérémy Desplanches, the rest of the individual swimmers in the team are still young and have probably not yet reached their zenith. Djakovic is 21, Ponti 23, Mityukov and Thierry Bollin both 24 and Mamié 26 years old.
"I think we can look to the future with confidence," said Buck. "We can draw on a good pool of talent in the youth sector. The task now will be to introduce these talents to the top performers so that the team can grow a little more in terms of breadth." Then perhaps there will be no more melancholy after the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
SDA
