NANTERRE, France (AP) — American coach Bob Bowman keeps cranking out Olympic gold-medal winners, swimmers trained in the United States but flying flags of other nations.
Frenchman Léon Marchand — home-country hero of the Paris Olympics — has already won three gold medals this week under Bowman’s tutelage. He’ll be the favorite for a fourth gold on Friday in the 200 individual medley.
And Michael Phelps, of course, was the first to make Bowman famous. He won 23 Olympic gold medals and reigns as a swimming legend.
Add Hungarian Hubert Kós to Bowman’s list.
Kós won the 200-meter backstroke on Thursday night in 1 minute 54.26 seconds, coming from more than a second behind over the final 50 meters to overtake silver medalist Apostolos Christou of Greece (1:54.82). Swiss Roman Mityukov took bronze (1:54.85).
So what is the Bowman magic?
“His magic touch is the work,” said Kós, who trained with Bowman at Arizona State University and has followed him to the University of Texas at Austin, where Bowman starts this season. Kos has two more years of eligibility at Texas.
“He doesn’t really let us be second best,” Kos said. “He doesn’t let us stoop down to a level that he doesn’t want from us.”
Arizona State won the NCAA swim championship powered by Marchand, Kós, and Canadian Olympic bronze medalist Ilya Kharun, who finished third behind Marchand in the 200 fly.
“I’m just happy to be a part of a team like that,” Kós said.
Kós is the son of a Hungarian mother and an Irish-Hungarian father. He went to an American school, speaks like an American, and when he wanted to step up to the next level he went to Bowman in the United States.
“I’m technically 75% Hungarian,” he laughed.
Kós said he tried to save a bit in the early part of the race so he could come back strong at the end.
“I just knew that I had to do something like that to win,” he said. “Doesn’t really matter how I got there. The point is that I got there and I’m just really happy.”
Asked to summarize his Olympics joy, Kós was direct.
“I was just happy to get my hand on the wall,” he said. “But I feel really sick right now.”
___
AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games