Intensity of training broke me down to tears: Samiul

Samiul Islam Rafi is the ninth male swimmer from Bangladesh to receive a wild card entry to the Olympic Games and is among the five athletes who will represent the country in the forthcoming Paris Games, starting on July 26. The Bangladesh Navy athlete, who holds three national records in backstroke events, has been training in Thailand under a World Aquatics Federation scholarship ahead of the Games. The 19-year-old recently spoke to The Daily Star's Anisur Rahman about his preparation, expectations and many other related matters. Here are the excerpts:

The Daily Star (DS): How is your training going on for the Paris Olympics?

Samiul Islam Rafi (SI): I joined the training camp in Thailand in last December. It started in September but I could not join at that time due to last's year Asian Games. I have been training with some 32 swimmers from as many countries and nine of them including me have got the opportunity to take part in the Paris Olympics through a wild card. At the moment, I am in recovery ahead of the Paris Olympics

DS: How did you feel when you learnt you will compete in the Olympics?

SI: Actually, I was uncertain about getting a wild card. I was working hard to improve my performance in Thailand. When I became the best swimmer at the National Swimming Championship last year, I grew in confidence because if I could earn more FINA points (points assigned to swimmers by World Aquatics), I might get the wild card. You could say that luck was on my side as I earned 686 FINA points after doing better in the 100m freestyle event in Thailand and that helped me get the wild card entry.

DS: Bangladesh swimmers have always just made up the numbers in the Olympics. Will the Paris Olympics be the same?

SI: The swimmers from China, the USA, Australia and other countries who win Olympic medals start swimming at the age of six. Swimmers, aged 20 or above in Bangladesh, can't match the timings of 12-year-old swimmers from those countries. I have been given an opportunity to compete in the Olympics and I want to use this platform to improve myself for the South Asian Games. I want to deliver something good for the nation in SA Games.

DS: Backstroke events are your favourite but you will have to compete in the 100m freestyle event in Paris. How comfortable are you competing in a freestyle event?

SI: I have become what I am now through backstroke events, which always came easily to me. But I also compete in the 100m freestyle event. From last February, I have been training under a Russian coach in Thailand and have improved my timing by three seconds. I produced my best timing of 53.12 seconds in the Thailand open in April last.

DS: What are you hoping to achieve in the Olympics?

SI: I know it is quite tough for me to quality for the semifinals. Usually you need a timing of 47 seconds or better to progress but right now I am far off from that. I think one day I will be able to achieve a timing of 49 seconds if I can continue receiving high quality training. I am hoping to bring my timing down to 52 seconds in Paris. I have been working really hard in Thailand, sometimes I have even broken down in tears from the intensity of the training. If I can clock less than 52 seconds, all the pain will be worth it.

DS: What is the difference between training in Thailand and Bangladesh?

SI: There is a gulf of difference. The training environment, facilities, schedule and diet are different. For instance, in Bangladesh our training schedule is – morning training, breakfast, rest period, then more training, lunch and then rest in the afternoon. But in Thailand, it's breakfast first, then stretching, warm-up in pool, training, gym, lunch, sleep, stretching and training. In Bangladesh, we swim nearly 10km per day but over there I swam nearly 20km every day.