Honeymoon over for Toussaint: ‘Time to fly away again’

Mark Faber, who works closely with a coach every day, in this case means for him to remain in a marriage. “There are first the honeymoon weeks,” says swimmer Kira Toussaint. “So everything is new, fun and exciting. This honeymoon is just over. And I’m just the guy who’s always looking for a little excitement.”

Under Faber, swimming began for the 27-year-old daughter of Olympic swimming champion Jolanda de Rover. “My career has exploded since 2018.” Harvest: Six European titles and a world record. “I’ve won almost everything to win. Except for an Olympic medal.”

greener grass

Yet this year there was an uncontrollable need to see if the grass was really greener elsewhere. “So after four years it’s time to swim again.”

Toussaint’s decision to return to the University of Tennessee until the European Championships in Rome in mid-August was “by mutual agreement,” as the saying goes. In Knoxville, she finds instructor Matt Kredich, with whom she worked at the same university from 2015 to late 2017.

He already had a plane ticket to the United States in his pocket, so the idea for an American adventure paid off, Toussaint laughs. Earlier this year, she was invited to participate in a charity contest in Jacksonville, Florida, later this month. On Thursday, she crossed the pond for a freestyle dip in a 50-foot charity pool.

Why exactly, as a recognized expert in backstroke with a front sweep as number two, did he want a race a little more than the converted 45 meters? “No idea.”

I

I felt like I couldn’t log in.

Maybe it should have been, we can conclude between the lines. From September to November 2021, Toussaint participated in the International Swimming League, the traveling commercial swimming circus of Ukrainian billionaire Konstantin Grigorishin. “So funny.”

As a member of the London Roar team, he opened his eyes by competing against like-minded teams like the Tokyo Frog Kings and Cali Condors. Compared to this show, she led a very boring life in Amsterdam. He realized that the passage to the capital Sloterparkbad was becoming increasingly difficult for him.

oppressive

It’s not that he doesn’t get along with his teammates, he emphasizes. Yet it felt increasingly oppressive to be part of a training group of just six people.

“I felt like I couldn’t connect. There was no other back specialist, no one to train at my level and I found that the mutual interests were very different.”

The fact that there are two captains on board with the breaststroke swimmer Arno Kamminga also states that there is no reason to go ashore. “We are two different personalities. I won’t be coming to her house anytime soon for coffee and vice versa. But you don’t have to be best friends to bring out the best in each other.”

According to her, her relationship with Faber was not. Toussaint formed a lifelong bond with the man she gathered around him when he tested false positive for doping at the November 2018 World Cup in Beijing.

“He immediately believed in my innocence and helped me prosecute this case. He has been very close to me ever since.”

I

I really have no idea what my future looks like. I’m just waiting to see what happens next.

“It didn’t expire,” he adds unnecessarily. In fact, according to Toussaint, the fact that he dared to share his feelings with his trainer says a lot about the relationship between the two.

“The security environment shows that we can discuss my objections and come to this solution together.”

final thrust

Toussaint made the final move in the Eindhoven qualifying in April, where he was out of his usual form. “I told Mark right away. Not so. He saw it too. After that I really got the chance to do other things.”

In fact, she says it’s normal for her to spread her wings at this point in her career. “This is about my character. I have never been with the same coach for more than four seasons in my career. I feel left out if I stay.”

Toussaint faces an uncertain adventure in Tennessee. In a few months he will be specially prepared for the European Championship, which will be held in Rome in August. “I want that productive swim tight.”

The World Long Course Championships, held in Budapest in June this year, came too early to make the most of it. “It doesn’t change the fact that I’m swimming there.”

limited folder

He will throw a full 50 and 100 meter backstroke in Kredich. Exactly the 200 meters, on which her mother won the gold medal at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, was taken out of her repertoire.

“I have a time of 2.10, the world record is 2.03. If I do my best I can get 2.07. And with that you are far from competing for the prize.”

medal in Paris

That is why he wants to shine in the 100 meter backstroke at the Olympic Games in Paris in two years. “Competing for a medal there, that’s the big goal.” It is also a big question for Toussaint whether he is willing to fulfill that dream in the United States at the Third Summer Games.

“I don’t know if I want to be that far from home for two and a half years to swim. And maybe by the end of the summer I’ll make sure I don’t want to do anything else. Right now I’m just training in Tennessee. Maybe I’ll go back to Faber. I have no idea what my future holds, I’m just waiting to see what happens in the near future.