In a quiet ceremony in Canbera on Wednesday 26 March Alex Popov the two time double Olympic Gold Medal in the freestyle sprints married his girl friend of two years, Daria Shmeloyova.
The ceremony in Canberra will be followed at a later date by a formal wedding with the families and friends of the bride and groom in Russia. Alexandre and Daria swam together on their national swimming team for five years. However, they have been close friends for more than two years, Daria joining her boyfriend in Canberra last November following the dramatic stabbing incident of the star swimmer on a Moscow street. The new bride retired from swimming following her appearance as a finalist in the individual medley at the Atlanta Games.
Popov having recovered from the knife wounds without any lasting damage has settled well into his preparation for the European Championships in August and the 1998 World Championships in Perth. The couple were accompanied at the ceremony by Australian Olympic swimmers Matthew Dunn and Michael Klim in addition to AlexÕs long time mentor Coach Gennadi Touretski.
Asked how he felt how the marriage would effect the training plans of his famous swimmer, Touretski said: "Aelxandre is his own man and a very special personality. He knows what he is doing with his life and will stay in focus on his goal of a third Olympic Games success".
In what is the biggest Meet of the year Australian swimmers from 13 and unders to 18 years will go head to head in the Australian Age Championships at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games Pool over this Easter holiday period.
Athletes, coaches, parents and officials will gather for this five day Meet from all over the continent to display their talents, in the hope of returning in three and a half years as members of the national Olympic Games team.
Australian Swimming has added a new age group, 18 years for boys and girls, for the championships which is conducted over the full Olympic program of individual events, and 200m Club Relays, in single age groups.
See the 1997 Australian Age and Open Rankings at