Olympic champion, world champion, world record holder: Florian Wellbrock is one of the best swimmers in the world and the best German athlete of all time. And yet many do not really know the 24-year-old. Before the European Championships, which begin today in Rome, the exceptional talent speaks to ntv.de about fame, frustration, torment – and sexual abuse in swimming.
ntv.de: Mr. Wellbrock, have you already been recognized on the street today?
Florian Wellbrock: That happens more often in sports-mad Magdeburg. But hardly in a big city like Berlin. It would have to be a funny coincidence that I was spoken to.
You are the first male German swimmer with Olympic gold since 1988, you could become one of the most successful German athletes ever. Are you too unknown for all your extraordinary achievements?
Difficult question. Before my career, I never considered how well-known I might become one day. Of course, footballers or tennis pro Alexander Zverev play in a different league.
When Franziska van Almsick swam to four medals at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona as a 14-year-old, she became a German sports superstar overnight. What did she have that you don’t have?
Back then, swimming was seen in a completely different light than it is today, because success was regularly achieved. That hasn’t been the case since around 2009, after the super era of Britta Steffen and Paul Biedermann. There was no rain of medals at the DSV, which means that swimming has lost its attractiveness in the media. Now I’m trying to spice things up a bit with my performance.
If you were American and not German, would you be a superstar in the US, where swimming is more important?
I’ve actually asked myself the same question and discussed it with friends. I dont know. Because I stand out with my performance in Germany, I’m the figurehead here. If I were to swim the same performances as an American, I would only be one of many because they have a completely different concentration of top people there. I can’t compete with a Katie Ledecky or a Caeleb Dressel with my performance. That’s why I probably wouldn’t be more or less well known than I am in Germany.
In this country, the swimming world championships in Budapest were not even broadcast on TV. What was your first reaction when you heard that the finals will be shown in Berlin instead?
I couldn’t understand that at all from an athlete’s point of view. Which swimming fan looks at a German championship where the top people are not there at all because they are currently competing at the world championship? I don’t understand that at all. On the other hand, there are of course contracts on television that have to be honored and if a World Cup is pushed in at such short notice, then maybe you can’t change the plan anymore.
At the World Championships you won a historic five medals in five races, but not all of them were gold. Are you annoyed as a success obsessed in retrospect?
In fact, there is only pure joy. Shortly after the race, of course, I was also annoyed, because as a professional athlete I always want to win. But that goes away quickly. When I look at the World Cup from a distance, I’m very satisfied. I’ve never competed in such a top-class competition over five distances, I mastered this physical challenge very well. And then to come out of the water with five medals, that’s great.
Some athletes nibble on a frustrating defeat longer than they are happy about a great success: Which defeat do you remember?
Above all, I remember a frustrating defeat: It was in 2016 at my first Olympic Games, when I was so nervous that I couldn’t perform at all. That was very disappointing! But I’m not the type to dwell on negative experiences longer than positive ones. I thrive on a win far more than I would on a loss.
In Budapest you won bronze in the 10 km open water. What thoughts shouldn’t be shooting through your head at kilometer seven?
There must be no doubt. You have to believe in yourself for the entire two hours and know that you are the best. That you win today. You concentrate a lot on the technical elements, so that the long-term stress is easy to handle.
How do you train to stay that focused for almost two hours?
That comes through the training process. You have to train a lot for these marathon distances and then the concentrated switch-off levels off at some point.
It was a kind of taboo for pool swimmers to go into the open water: when did you think: ‘I’m really up for doing the 10,000 meters’?
I wanted to start with it at the 2017 World Cup, but the national coach refused to do so because he had opposed the double burden. But open water swimming hasn’t let go of me because it’s completely different from swimming in the pool with the same movements over and over again. I don’t want to say that it’s boring, but it’s always the same process and always the same water temperature. In open water I have to adjust to new conditions, temperature differences and a new body of water with waves every time. To grit your teeth again after kilometer seven or eight, to torment yourself and get through it, I find that very appealing.
A kind of break from routine.
Definitive. I could just keep swimming in the pool all the time, but I just love the variety. The 10,000 meters are of course particularly interesting as an Olympic distance.
“Water is my haven of peace,” you once said. How does life feel in the city, in the country, out of the water for you then?
Sometimes a bit stressful. I’m glad I live in a small town like Magdeburg. I always like to escape from city life, grab my dog and drive somewhere on the Elbe where I can find my haven of peace by the water. For example, I couldn’t imagine city life in Berlin.
Now it’s not going to the German, but to the Italian capital for the European Championships in Rome (11th to 21st August). For someone who is hungry for success like you, should it be the goal to confirm all titles in the World Cup and do even better?
That’s what it should be. But because of my corona infection shortly after the World Cup, I have to compete with a reduced program. The illness completely threw my preparation and goals upside down. I’ll travel there and make a spontaneous decision in Rome, but I’ll skip the 800 meters. I can categorically rule out world records (laughs). But other than that, I really can’t really predict anything for the European Championship.
Many athletes suffer from Long-Covid after a corona infection and complain that something is “sitting on the lungs”.
I don’t have any physical symptoms and my medical checks were also very good after I was negative again. But in the water I notice my training deficit and that everything is going a little harder than usual. Luckily I don’t have the feeling that I can’t breathe or anything like that.
Change of subject: The former national swimming coach Stefan Lurz was given a suspended sentence in February for sexually abusing an underage swimmer. What did the scandal do to you?
Fortunately, that doesn’t affect me at all. It doesn’t matter at all whether it’s this negative report or another one from the DSV, I don’t listen at all. I have too much to do with myself and with my training to be able to concentrate on all the negative reports from the DSV, of which unfortunately we have had a lot lately. That’s the only way I can achieve the kind of performance I showed at the World Cup. Otherwise I would have to deal with so many worries and fears that I would no longer be able to perform as an athlete.
But don’t you see yourself in a pioneering role as a symbol of swimming to stand up for structures in which something like this doesn’t happen?
In any case, and I make sure of that on site in the team. Of course, the media treats me as a figurehead and I am perceived as a kind of captain in the team. I try to ensure a healthy atmosphere as much as I can, and we get along very well that way.
Finally, an outlook: Another German sports great, basketball player Dirk Nowitzki, finally enjoyed being able to eat ice cream every day after retiring. How celibate do you live and what do you look forward to when you hang up your swimming trunks?
I’m already looking forward to an orderly week and a free weekend. Just sleeping in Saturday and Sunday in a row would be a highlight. But I’m very thankful for the life I’m currently able to lead.
David spoke needy with Florian Wellbrock