"The result is just a result. I am here to enjoy the competition," Markus Rogan smiled, shunning away questions on his goal in the Beijing Games. However, the T shirt the Austrian was wearing seemed to betray his low-pitched tone.
On the back of his yellow T shirt is the word of "Nagano", the Japanese city which hosted the 1998 Winter Games. On his chest is a picture of a skier crashing on a mountain slope.
The man in the picture is Hermann Maier, a hero in Austria. The skier crashed in a downhill in the Nagano Games and was forced out of the race. Three days later, when many people feared he might have died in the accident, Maier returned to win the gold medal in the super giant slalom.
To make such a T shirt is an idea from Rogan himself, and he wore it for the first time when he got his first chance to swim in Beijing's Water Cube, where all the 32 swimming gold medals will go to their owners in the coming fortnight sports gala.
Instead of training in the competition pool, where he would soon race against his long-time rivals Aaron Peirsol and Ryan Lochte of the United States, Rogan chose to swim in the less attractive warm-up pool.
Rogan said he would like to save the best for the last. "It's like when you meet a very nice girl, (you have to take things slowly)."
Commenting on his rivals who are believed to have become much competitive than before, Rogan said "if they want to become a lot stronger, I suggest they shouldn't waste any energy. Because the race is not for another week yet."
In the 2004 Athens Games, the Austrian swimmer lost to Peirsol in both 100 meter and 200 meter backstroke, settling for two silvers. Peirsol now holds the 100 meter backstroke world record and Lochte holds the 200 meter world record.
Getting faster every year, Rogan is undercutting his own records again and again. "I am in good form and of course stronger than before," Rogan said.
Starting from January 2007, Rogan left the United States where he had lived and trained for eight years, and began training in Italy.
Rogan said he likes the Italian way of training. "The Italians train with a lot of passion, I think there are two approaches of sport. There is scientific approach and emotional approach. And I prefer the emotional approach. The Italians don't think much about the scientific aspect. They train with their hearts."
Having won two silvers, Rogan is the biggest hope of Austria for a medal. Rogan said that it's more an honor for him being a medal hope. "It's a kind of confirmation that the training is right and that the country trusts me with that kind of mission."
Aged 26, Rogan said he would retire after the 2009 World Championships.
"You know it's just swimming. It's fantastic, but there are many places you cannot reach by swimming. So there are a lot of other things I want to see. And I want to see what real life is like."
"Being a professional athlete is a free pass to egomania. You can always say 'I'm first' because you're representing your country. But it's an unfair and unreal way to live. I want to get to a point where I can't say 'I'm first' anymore."
With a collection of 20 medals and many European titles, Rogan is already Austria's most successful swimmer. But, that's not enough. A hero is what he is fighting for.
(Xinhua News Agency August 4, 2008)