Kristian Gkolomeev stands on a starting block in the Alabama Aquatics Center while associate head coach Jonty Skinner looks on.
When the Greek Olympian launches himself into the Don Gambril Olympic Pool, Skinner, former coach of 17 Olympic gold medalists, is less than satisfied. The freshman’s form is apparently not perfect – which is not surprising, since the 31st fastest swimmer at the London Olympic games has had very little training.
At Alabama, however, the staff plans to maximize Gkolomeev’s considerable potential.
“He was very smooth in the water,” Skinner said. “He had good feel for the water … obviously, he was fast. He has the height. He has all the basic tools. It wasn’t until he got on campus and I could do some testing on him that I realized how good he really is. You don’t come across people like him every day in the world of sport.”
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Alabama will rely on that raw skill in the SEC Championships, which begin Thursday in Athens, Ga.
“He’ll go to the SEC Championships and probably be top-5,” Skinner said.
Gkolomeev has been swimming since he was 5, and the freshman said he didn’t realize just how good he could be until much later.
“At 17 years old, I realized I could do a lot of things in swimming,” Gkolomeev said. “At age 18, I was second in the European Junior Championship and third in the World Junior Championship. At age 19, I went to the Olympics.”
The London Olympic Games gave Alabama head coach Dennis Pursley and Skinner the chance they needed to begin the long process of recruiting Gkolomeev. At the time, Pursley was head coach of Team Great Britain, with Skinner as one of his assistants. Both knew they were headed to Alabama and wanted Gkolomeev to come with them.
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“It was in some of the lead-up meets to the Olympic games that I noticed him in the meet results,” Pursley said. “The Olympics was the first time I made contact with him … That was the start of the process, just an opportunity to get a feel for him.”
Gkolomeev is far from the first Greek swimmer to compete for Alabama.
“We’ve got Greek tradition here at the University,” Pursley said. “We’ve had a couple of Greek swimmers. … At the time we started this process, we had two on the roster, and we’ve had Greek swimmers in the past. There is something of a pipeline there.”
Gkolomeev said the chance to train at the highest level with coaches of a strong Olympic pedigree helped convince him.
“It was my decision to come Alabama because I know Jonty Skinner is one of the best sprint coaches,” Gkolomeev said. “I wanted him to be my trainer.”
The coaching staff and Gkolomeev are focused on the long term in their plans. Both said the long-term goals include national championships and even gold medals.
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“He’s very undeveloped,” Pursley said. “For him to be competing at that level with as inadequate as his training development had been up to that time is very exciting. We just think he has huge upside and a lot of undeveloped potential.”
Skinner also said Gkolomeev has a lot of potential.
“All the way through the spring, we’ll be working on skills.” Skinner said. “This summer, I’ll teach him how to train. Next winter, maybe he’ll be ready to train. The next summer will have to be the hardest training he’ll have to do before the Olympic Games … He has a chance to win a national championship for The University of Alabama.”
Skinner and Pursley said if Gkolomeev trains well, there is a possibility that the anthem at the 50 or 100 freestyle medal ceremony in 2016 or 2020 will be Greek.
