Frustrated with France, Arkhangelskiy savours Asian Games gold for adopted Bahrain
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TOKYO, Sept 25 : A son of political refugees who fled Russia for France, swimmer Michel Arkhangelskiy, travelled a long road to finally clinch his first major title at the Asian Games under the flag of Bahrain.
The 21-year-old won the 50-metre butterfly gold on Thursday at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre in a time of 22.91 seconds, matching exactly his Asian record set in France in June.
Bahrain was never Arkhangelskiy’s first choice as a nation to represent in his sport, but neither was Russia.
“If I go back to Russia, I’ll be arrested because my family are political opponents,” said Arkhangelskiy, now a college swimmer for the University of California, Berkeley.
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As a non-citizen, Arkhangelskiy found France was also not an option despite living in the country for some 16 years.
“I was waiting for a long time and at one point I was just disappointed,” he said.
“I was pissed off about all this, all the politics, because you know it’s quite difficult to be the son of a political refugee.”
Bahrain, however, welcomed him with open arms as it has for plenty of top athletes born overseas.
Choosing the Gulf nation is not such a surprise, said the swimmer, whose father was born in Kazakhstan while his mother grew up in an Asian part of Russia.
It’s been win-win for country and athlete, with Bahrain providing a high level of support and Arkhangelskiy winning the country its first Asian Games swimming title.
Arkhangelskiy declined to provide details on the nature of his sponsorship from Bahrain but said he liked how the country was invested in swimming.
“I have all the best conditions to swim for … everything is covered so I’m in the best condition to perform – as you see with the Asian Games gold medal,” he said.
A host of other imported athletes are competing at the Games for Bahrain, including Kenyan-born track runner Winfred Yavi, the Olympic 3,000m steeplechase champion, and much of their wrestling team.
Russian-born mixed martial arts fighter Diana Pogosian won the silver medal for Bahrain in the women’s 54kg modern category earlier in the week, and said it was a no-brainer to compete for the Gulf nation.
“Well, I wasn’t going to win a gold medal for Russia at an Asian Games,” she told Reuters.
Source: Reuters
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