Q and A with Stefan Nystrand

Stefan Nystrand had a pretty amazing 2007. He won a bronze medal at the World Championships in Melbourne and set TWO world records in the 50 and 100 free scm (20.93 and 45.83 respectively). Perhaps most importantly in this Olympic season he was only the second man ever under 48 seconds in the 100 free lcm swimming 47.91 at the Paris Open this fall, putting Pieter van den Hoogenband's world record of 47.84 on notice. If there's a perfect time for a short course specialist like Nystrand to knock nearly a second of his previous best time in a long course event, the Olympic season is pretty much it. Already a two-time Olympian, Nystrand is looking very much like the man to beat in Beijing this year.



1) Congratulations on what has been an amazing 2007 for you. How are you feeling going into 2008, pushing towards the Olympics? Do you have an Olympic Trials upcoming?

Thank you! It was a really good year for me and I'm confident it will be even better this year. I'm pretty excited for Beijing and looking forward to it. Never been better. The trials for the Swedish swimmers and last chance to qualify is at Europeans in Eindhoven in March.

2) I have to ask about the chain around your neck in Debrecen. When other swimmers are doing everything they can to limit drag - you are racing in jewelry. What's that about?

Well, you have to look pretty when you swim don't you think? haha. Na joking, I usually have that to not limit drag and take it off when I'm fully tapered and gonna swim real fast.

3) Self-Confidence seems to be perhaps even more important to sprinters like yourself than in any other discipline - just standing on the blocks and knowing you're going to touch first. Would you agree with that? How do you get yourself back on track after a bad result and into the "I'm going to win" mindset?

I have self confidence but I do not think like that. I feel you fool yourself and I'm too much of a realist if I should have those thoughts. I always try to do my best, and everything has to be perfect, the start, the finish and if I miss something, better off next time. I don't worry too much about it if I'm honest.

4) How does Sweden as a nation receive the sport of swimming, and how much support is there for athletes like yourself and Therese Alshammar who are having so much international success?

Swimming is not the national sport of Sweden but it gets pretty much media time compared to other sports. Unfortunately, it is pretty hard to make big money in Sweden in sports but I really shouldn't complain. I can just focus on swimming and don't have to work to make it go around.

5) You have a somewhat controversial method of training as I understand - low yardage and not much dryland. Obviously its working for you. Can you give us some insight into your average training day? Do you have a special diet as well?

I'm doing roughly 20 kilometers a week, but I have very much dryland, lots of stretching and medicine ball and explosive moments. I usually only swim easy or fast, nothing in between. Lots of technique exercises. The key is to balance rest. And I changed my diet from McD 3-4 times a week to not having eaten fast food since 2005. Food intake is a major factor for overall performance.

6) Tell us a little about what your life is like outside of the pool. Do you have a special hobby? Play video games? Are you a student? What kind of music do you like?

My life now is pretty much only swimming. I do not study nor work. You can compare it to being at a training camp, but I have it like that 24/7, 365 days. I play a lot of pc games as it is relaxing and fun. Watch a lot of movies as well!