Today’s swimming lesson will be taken by… Alexander Popov

It’s not every day that an Olympic Champion comes to your sports lesson, but one lucky school in Nanjing had a swimming lesson with a difference when Alexander Popov, four-time Russian Olympic gold medallist turned up at the pool at Hong Guang Middle School.

Alexander was in town with the IOC Coordination Commission - a group of experts who provide advice and guidance to the host city - and as the Chairman of this group he had a busy week helping Nanjing 2014 with their planning. As soon as the hard work was over, Alexander went straight over to visit the students at the school for a pool-side training session.

The school is renowned for its swimming ability, and with students between the ages of 12-15 there are high hopes that some of them will attend the Youth Olympic Games when it comes to their city in 2014. Alexander gave some coaching advice to improve their stroke and answered their questions about his Olympic experiences.

The pupils were awe-struck by the swimming legend, as one youngster exclaimed, “he is really big and I wish someday I will be as tall as him and [able to] swim as fast!”