Kliment Kolesnikov Q&A: Why I'm not afraid of anyone at Tokyo 2020

Kliment Kolesnikov is fast-becoming one of the most exciting names in swimming, and could even be the surprise package of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

The 6-foot-5 (1.96m) sprinter first came to the world’s attention in 2018, when he did the backstroke double at the European Championships before scooping an astonishing six gold medals and one silver at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires.

Unperturbed by the swimming spotlight that was suddenly on him, the ROC athlete continued to turn in impressive performances.

He won three medals at the 2019 World Championships in Gwangju, before sealing two individual titles and breaking the men’s 50m backstroke world record at the European Champs in 2021.

Despite this success, the pre-Tokyo 2020 Olympic headlines in men’s swimming are dominated by the likes of Caeleb Dressel, Adam Peaty and Kyle Chalmers. For now, Kolesnikov is wading water in the background, exactly where he likes it.

Olympics.com sat down with the 21-year-old to find out how he deals with growing expectations, why he isn’t scared of his more established rivals, some rather unusual pre-race rituals, and more!

The conversation with Kolesnikov below has been edited for clarity.

Olympics.com: You have accomplished so much at such a young age, where do you get your confidence from?

Kliment Kolesnikov: It started at the Russian youth national competition in 2014 where I swam the 200 IM in 2.08. I won the race and this was the first time where I felt really proud of my time. After that I became more confident going into races. It became easy for me to concentrate on clearing my mind before the race. After each competition, I gained more confidence that I can do better and better.

OC: What was your experience like at the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires? There is a famous picture of you and Andrei Minakov, where you guys are standing with all of your gold medals!

KK: That was a very good competition for us, for the Russian team and for me and Andrei as well. Winning the six gold medals was a good experience for me because that was my first very big competition. It wasn’t the Olympic Games, but at the same time it was a step towards the Olympic Games. We were 17, 18 years old. It was a little bit scary because there were only four athletes from each country racing. I was really proud of myself, of the other guys on my team, and we came home... the commentator said like heroes, but it was only a step for us towards the big goal.

OC: Swimming training can be really monotonous, repeating similar exercises for hours and hours. Where does your motivation come from to do that?

KK: It’s easy to stay motivated when you are working towards and exciting competition. But when it's without competitions for months like it has been recently (due to the COVID-19 pandemic), it is a little stressful and a little annoying for me. But I remind myself that I have a goal, and I keep thinking about that. After competitions, training is a little bit easier because you feel good, you're happy after competitions, and it's very good for me to race with other guys. After two weeks it starts getting annoying and you're a little tired with a bad mindset. But as I said before, after every competition you are getting much better at the process.

OC: There is a lot of media attention on Kyle Chalmers, Adam Peaty, and Caeleb Dressel going into Tokyo 2020. Does that bother you?

KK: Personally, it doesn't matter how much attention there is on me, because I'm going there to do my job. I will concentrate only on what I want to do, on what I want to achieve. My personal expectations will be the only thing in my head. I know that everyone starts speaking about Kyle Chalmers, about Caeleb Dressel, Peaty, and other guys. Maybe for them it’s cool, but for me it doesn't matter. I can tell everyone that you don't need to be afraid of someone because you know what you can do, and that’s all that matters. Maybe you don’t swim as fast as some of the other guys, but then you understand it’s not your time, and you go home and train.

OC: You will be swimming the 50m freestyle, 100m freestyle, 100m backstroke and several relay events in Tokyo. How hard will it be to compete over such a busy schedule?

KK: I don't think it’s a problem. I swim far fewer events at the Olympics compared to the Europeans. At the Europeans, the 100 freestyle went straight into the 200 backstroke, and that was a really tough challenge for me. None of my races will be close to each other at the Olympics, so there will be no challenge for me logistically. I will be ready to race.

OC: Is there a different type of pressure leading up to the Olympics, compared to the other international competitions?

KK: For me, the Olympics are something more special than other competitions as they only happen every four years. You don't know what will happen after them, will you swim another Olympics or not? You have to swim as fast as you can.

But I don’t think that I will have pressure because I’ve already had so many competitions in the past, like the World Championships and the European championships, the Youth Olympic Games, many nationals, so there will be no problem for me to swim there, but we will see. It's something special, it's something new. Maybe I will feel different there.

OC: What expectations do you have for Tokyo 2020?

KK: It will be my first Olympic Games and it is such a dream for me. A goal would be to stand on the podium, but I don't like to set expectations before the race, so we'll see. I hope that everything will be OK.

OC: Who is the person that inspires you most and why?

KK: There's no one person that inspires me. But as a swimmer, I was cheered when I was younger, for (Beijing 2008 double bronze medallist backstroker) Arkady Vyatchanin. The only time I saw him was at the Russian nationals in Moscow. I was sitting at the back of the swimming pool and watched him win the race, and he looked so big and tall on the podium with the wavy hair, just laughing. He was so free after the race, such a simple guy. I believe he now lives in the United States and maybe this is only one person who I’d like to meet someday.

OC: Do you have any rituals?

KK: I’ve worn the same socks at competitions since 2013. Every competition, the same socks, so they’re growing up with me! They were a present from my teammates when we were in the United States on swimming camp in 2012. They are very funny, you’ll have to look out for them in competitions.

Secondly, I dive into the water before backstroke races head-first, not like the other guys who go with their legs. I started doing this in 2016, because when you jump into the water with your legs the water can get inside your cap, and I don't like it. So that's why I started doing this. It’s more of a practical thing.