Being in the Soviet system under Communism still played a big part in who I am today as a person and an athlete. That was something I learnt back in the Soviet Union when I was eight and nine years old. At that age, he was swimming five hours a day, running and doing weights. Hand-picked by Soviet officials, he was given government sponsorship and a life of pure, intense and focused training began at a very tender age. One motto has stayed with him all his life from those days of iron discipline.
Body does what mind prefers.
But then at the age of 13, his parents emigrated to California and he had to start all over again. They had no car. He took a bus for 45 minutes and then had to walk eight blocks to train with the Team Santa Monica swim club. He was going to school, taking a job after school to help out the family finances. It was getting too much.