We did not spot him in the pool, but on pool-deck at Pilvax Cup on Thursday. He was limping, though smiling confidently. David is member of the elite team of Iron Swim, however, he surely will not be at the Nationals at the end of March, although he could have competed with good chance. His knee was operated a few weeks ago.
You are still limping, how are you?
‘Getting better. It was a difficult month. I have never had such an operation before. Finally, we found a doctor who could figure out what the real problem was. And I know that my leg will be good now.’
When did you realize the problem and what was it exactly?
‘It turned out one and a half month ago. According to the diagnosis my meniscus was torn off and it should have sewed back. It has a 6-week rehabilitation, we are around the third week. I can start the hard load in about five weeks.’
The Nationals was dropped.
‘And with the Nationals certainly the world championships, too, but we discussed it before that it was better to skip it and to be 100 percent fit for the Olympics. There will be some competitions in the summer, though, in Italy or the Mare Nostrum series and I think I can participate at them. We will see, but my bigger goals are set for the end of the year, the short course competitions.’
What is it like looking at the others from the deck?
‘Very bad. I was already psyched out in the first week that I could not swim. I came to the pool last week, because I missed it a lot. But I know that I can only be better after the operation. I had already suffered from my leg more than a year and although there was a period when it stopped, recently it restarted, my pains were much stronger than before. I was told from others to get painkillers until the world championships, but I did not want it at all, in my opinion it does not have any sense.’
Lying in the bed at the hospital one has time to think, what were you thinking of?
‘I was thinking of that I do not have much time left in sport and I am not planning to go on for long either. I had already determined one and a half year ago that I had only one goal, the next Olympics. I would like to be prepared for it 100 percent, so now I must work on getting back to my form. Fortunately, I cannot lose so much in a month, and I tried to move as much as I could, I have just come from the gym now. As soon as I can, I will start doing hard work and going forward at full throttle.’