An Olympic swimmer has gone viral after sharing a video of her ‘waterless swim training’ from her kitchen table at home. Many were quite impressed by her core strength!
Pandemic Changes Sports Training
With the COVID-19 pandemic sweeping across nations from China, billions of people are affected. Everyone is told to stay at home. This had very few exemptions but ‘non-essential’ things like jogging, running, and swimming in public are not allowed.
Photo credit: 7olympics / Twitter
This clearly changed sports training, particularly for Olympians who have to make sure they are on top of their game. They can’t go out to train, because even gyms are closed to keep people safe from the pandemic. That meant they had to find another way to train.
Russian swimmer Yuliya Efimova does not have a swimming pool at home – and she can’t go to any public pool for that matter. So, the three-time Olympic medalist found a way to still continue with her trainings by doing a ‘waterless swim training’ from her kitchen table at home!
Sharing a video on Twitter, the Olympic swimmer impressed everyone with her core strength as she managed to go through various swim strokes in the air.
With someone holding her feet but with her hips and upper body ‘swimming’ in the air, Efimova went through the motions of doing the proper movements for freestyle, breaststroke, backstroke and even the difficult but impressive butterfly! Wow. You’ve got to admire this athlete’s strength as well as her determination to still train despite the pandemic but finding a way to do it at home.
Some netizens joked that they were not impressed because someone was holding her feet. But most truly admired the dedication she has to perfect her craft. Here’s the impressive video:
Olympic swimmer Julia Evimova training at home. Unreal level of core strength 🤯
— 7Olympics (@7olympics) April 21, 2020
Doping Controversy
Just like many famous athletes, Efimova figured in doping controversy that nearly derailed her career.
Though she’s a three-time Olympic medalist, many were not happy with her participation in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro because she had tested positive for a banned steroid and had served a 16-month ban from 2014 to 2015. Many believe that it was unfair for her to compete in the Olympics after the doping controversy.
Still, she remains eligible for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics. Thus, she continues to train even while stuck at home.