blue riband?

Barcelona 2003 was a special story: Pieter clocked the best time in the semis but Alex Popov won the final. "If somebody deserved that gold medal then it was him," he says. "And I would say if you have to lose the 100m final to somebody then it should be Popov." Though only through videos, Alex Popov taught him a lot about the blue riband event. "By watching him I recognized that you can win the 100m only if you have a good second 50. I also watched tapes of Matt Biondi, analysing his stroke frequency and technique. Once I talked to Gennady Touretski, Popov's coach, and he said the guy who could swim faster than Alex had to be taller than him. I wasn't but I was determined to do it and after long preparations I felt that I could make the difference if my second 50 was fine."