On his daily motivations, Christou said, “The ambition that I have to reach my goals, in training and every time in specific competitions.” “I want to become better and more competitive in my training, and give my best every day,” he explained.
He competed for Greece at the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. Christou, who does backstroke, was a part of the men’s 4 × 100-meter medley relay team at the Rio Olympics, along with such fellow Greek athletes as Panagiotis Samilidis (breaststroke), Andreas Vazaios (butterfly), and Kristian Gkolomeev (freestyle). At the 2016 Olympics, Christou competed in the men’s 100-meter backstroke and the men’s 200-meter backstroke races respectively.
For young and aspiring swimmers, he encouraged them to “pay attention to their coaches and to respect them.” “Never give up because in an athlete’s career there are a lot of obstacles,” he said. “If you are patient and if you believe in yourself, then one day you will reach your potential, and you will become the person that you want to be.”
Christou listed the backstroke as his personal favorite stroke in swimming. “I love the backstroke, followed by the freestyle. I like the individual medley (IM) too, though the only thing is that I can’t swim the breaststroke too fast,” he said.
On being a swimmer in the digital age, he said, “It’s great because technology helps you monitor your swimming technique. Years ago, you weren’t able to do this. By watching your stroke under the water, you see your weaknesses, and in training, you can make adjustments to improve your stroke. That way, you can swim more efficiently in races.”
The Greek swimmer defined the word success as “achieving his goals.” “If you are achieving your goals, you feel fulfilled. I believe success is defined by each person individually,” he said.
He also opened up about the postponement of the Tokyo Olympic Games to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “It gives me more time to get prepared. I thought it was a good decision when they announced that the Olympic Games will take place next summer. The pandemic of COVID-19 is very serious and every person needs to be very careful in regards to their health,” he said.
“The postponement gives us a second year to get more ready, more determined, and stronger for the Olympics,” he added.
For his Greek-American fans, he expressed his gratitude. “We are very pleased and thankful that Greek-American people from the United States support us and believed in our racing. I want to make them proud in competitions because they believe in us,” he said.
To learn more about Greek swimmer and Olympian Apostolos Christou, follow him on Instagram.
