The painfully familiar smell of chlorine welcomes me once I enter the swimming pool, where I have competed many times back in the days. A well-known feeling, but somehow different this time. It is not me who is going to compete. A lot of new faces get in my way. My effort to keep in touch with the blue sport does not seem to be enough. I have missed something. Suddenly, some recognizable faces appear, walking in a line. Inspiring respect only by looking at them. I calm down. The Bulgarian national swimming team. Next to last in the line, Lyubomir Epitropov shows up. He is here. Exactly as I remember him. It’s been a while since I last saw him. This time we will not see each other as swimmers but as an interviewer and an interviewee.
“Hey, what’s up? I have not forgotten about our interview. Once I am done with my warm-up and the first swimming event, I will come outside,” says Lyubo to reassure my somehow upset look.
I have the great chance to watch Lyubo in his natural habitat, doing what he is best at. The Diana Swimming Complex is not just a randomly selected pool. It is the place where Lyubo has spent many years, participating not only in different Bulgarian training camps with the national swimming team but also winning quotas for many World and European Championships all around the world. Somehow, he has always had a specific connection with this pool, even though he does not want to admit it. Maybe it is the fact that he spends almost every summer here, training 7 hours a day.
Along with all his competition’s quotas, which he did not find very impressive, Lyubo did make history in Bulgarian swimming as he did qualify for the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021 at the very last possible moment. Even though he has made multiple attempts to win the quota for over a year, his achievement is still one of the biggest in Bulgarian swimming for our time. He was one of the few swimmers who not only qualified for the Olympics but also registered for a semi-final, which is a big thing regarding Bulgarian swimming. “Going to Tokyo for the 2021 Olympic Games and getting into the semi-finals of my main event, the 200-meter breaststroke, was also a great follow-up to the story,”, says Lyubo.
After finishing his warm-up, and qualifying for the finals in the 200-meter breaststroke during the afternoon session at Swimming Complex Diana, Lyubo comes out of the pool as if he has not done all of this. Switching his swimming suit over to his national team apparel, he brings his sports mat with him, ready to do some stretching exercises after the interview. We go into one of the sports complex’s rooms.
Lyubo has been swimming ever since he can remember. Like almost every child, he has been very active and athletic. His family has always been searching for ways to make him “exhausted” and have a smoother evening at home. He has always wanted to try many different sports, including track and field, karate, and football. Together with his parents, he agrees that swimming has the most benefits for him and is the right alternative for letting all the energy that he has out so that he does not just float without a direction. “This kid was born to be a breaststroker,”, says his first swimming coach when he steps foot in the pool.
I feel like we are old friends who have not seen each other for a long time and want to hear everything about each other. Being an interviewer and asking questions turns into a two-sided activity. Lyubo also wants to know what is happening in my life.
“I would like to have more patience with people and become a better listener. I think that is a great quality to have, and many times it solves many conflicts.”
A swimmer by heart and a Formula 1 fan by soul, Lyubo grows up in Veliko Turnovo in a block of flats on the first floor. He spent a lot of his time with his grandparents and had a big group of children his age that he used to play with. Just like a normal child. But his childhood was far from an “ordinary” one. Once he started competing, he understood immediately that that is what he wants to do. Having his family as his biggest support in life, he decided to pursue his goals outside of his home country’s borders. His ambition led him to the United States, where he has been studying and training since 2019.
Looking up to no one, wanting to be authentic, and not trying to live up to someone else’s expectations and standards, the Olympian understands at a young age that swimming as a sport in Bulgaria is of little if any importance. “I talked with a couple of our successful national swimmers who all immigrated to the United States. I did not feel like I had any other option. Of course, I could have stayed in Bulgaria, being an under-average swimmer, but if I wanted to really achieve something... then I did not have another option,”, explains Lyubo.
The blue sport is not one of the most popular sports among the Bulgarian sports media. Most of the time, swimmers are out of the media’s scope and do not receive any recognition for what they are doing. Even though swimming might not have the same historical traditions as, for example, Bulgarian rhythmic gymnastics, it still has one. National swimmers are still representing our country by taking part in the Olympics. Being fully aware of this, Lyubo does not pay much attention to sports media coverage and prefers focusing on the actual outcomes of his sport. “One of the things that separates good and great athletes is their outlook on life and sports. There is a lot of pressure that we athletes put on ourselves when it comes to our goals, and I do not need more coming from the media.”
Despite his participation in the last Olympic Games, Lyubo believes his most successful season in sports is somewhere in the future, looking for the next Olympiad in Paris in 2024. Until then, he will be working on improving his mentality more, as he believes that is one of the most crucial aspects of well-being and success, not only in sports but in life. “I have a lot of self-belief and am very careful of the language I use when I talk to myself. I try to have a positive outlook, no matter the situation, and learn as much as I can from it.”
Holding no regrets about his past and what he could have done differently, Lyubo is most proud of how he deals with what he perceives as a failure. He is looking forward to making anything and everything he has accomplished as a swimmer look insignificant when compared to it.
“The best way to approach a goal is to break it into pieces and create stepping stones. Every single thing I do is aimed at helping me achieve my long-term goals, and my short-term goals are just individual stairs leading to my future.”
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Eyma Georgieva is a senior student at the American University in Bulgaria, majoring in Business Administrations and Journalism and Mass Communications. She loves writing about people who possess a clear sense of purpose and inspire others.
