The back of his head. That’s all Ben was able to see.
Campus was closed for winter recess. Marat stayed the week as a guest at the New Haven, Indiana, home of the teammate Alex Close. Ben, Alex's younger brother, set up the chess board. Marat called out his moves. Ben placed Marat’s pieces where he was told. Ben moved his pieces, called out his positions to Marat, who continued to look away. Really, it was over before it started.
“Marat beat my brother without looking at the board once,” Alex Close remembers. “I’d like to say it was only my brother but, eventually, me and my dad were in there trying to help. So it was a team effort going against him and he whooped us.”
Another contest for Marat Amaltdinov where the opponents only saw the back of his head.
For a spectator, races are controlled chaos. Eight bodies on parallel tracks sound off a cacophony of splashes. Displacing hundreds of gallons of water in the most effortful, yet most efficient rhythm determines one’s result. Hundredths of a second, recorded with an enthusiastic finger swipe on ultra-sensitive touchpads, usually determine victory from defeat.
For a swimmer, it’s not sensory overload, it is sensory deprivation. Step up on the block. Take a deep breath. Get set. Listen for the start buzzer. Dive in. Hold on.
“It doesn’t have to feel good to be fast,” says senior and housemate Hudson Bursch. “It doesn’t have to feel bad to be slow.”
Swimmers don’t know where their opponents lie in relation. Are they ahead? Are they behind? How far? It’s the details of their own race that concentrates their attention. Technique, turns -- the elements that stand the same whether you’re swimming against a field of Olympians or paddling alone. Everyone has his or her own routine, their own style. Some go out quickly; some reserve for the finish.
“You have no idea what your time is going to be. You just have to trust that what you did during the season is going to help you do what you need to do.”
The back of his head. That’s what you see, if you can get that close.
That’s what Bursch saw training breaststroke and individual medley with Amaltdinov for the last four years. They spent so much time together, grinding away at sets, that they can’t estimate the total hours.
“We kind of have that same ambition, but he’s at the next level,” Bursch says. “I see Marat’s bubbles. Just way out there in the distance. I want to get a better look at them. So I’ve got to keep getting faster.”
Amaltdinov ended a nine-year drought for Purdue freshman swimmers reaching the NCAA National Championships when he qualified for the 100- and 200-yard breaststrokes in 2015. He was the bronze medalist in the 200 breaststroke at the Big Ten Championships that year. The next season, he won 11 times, including another Big Ten Championships victory. He skipped NCAAs to train for the Russian Olympic Trials. As a junior, he again won the 200 breaststroke at the conference meet and finished seventh at the NCAA Championships to become Purdue’s first All-American male swimmer since 2006.
Amaltdinov’s style has evolved with his experience. He sprinted early for his 2016 Big Ten title, holding off Indiana’s Cody Taylor by .03 seconds for a wire-to-wire finish. He uses a stealthier approach now.
“Marat likes to make them feel good in the beginning,” Bursch laughs, “and run ‘em down in the end.”
The 2017 Big Ten victory saw him in fourth at 50 yards, second after 100 and in the lead by 150, cruising to the finish with a 0.3-second margin over the runner-up.
“The mid-distance guys all have different strategies,” Amaltdinov says. “You can sprint first 50 and try to hold it, or you can focus on the second half and try to finish hard. It’s different for every person.”
“I just don’t have speed,” he quips.
The back of his head. That’s what helped motivate his teammates.
Being a college athlete is demanding. Swimming can be one of the most grueling sports. Wake up. Swim. Go home and do homework. Go to class. Eat. Go to class. Weights. Practice. Go home and eat. Study and do more homework. Get it all done before 10:30, because if you do, you can sleep seven or eight hours before you start it all over again.
“It helps to have teammates,” Close says. “Understanding you have people around you who have done it makes it easier. You come in freshman year and it’s really overwhelming.”
Amaltdinov was not a typical incoming college student. He grew up in Orenburg, Russia, near the Kazakhstan border. His parents were managers at a tea company and he has two younger sisters. His father, Rinat, introduced him to swimming as a way to stay active, instead of just focusing on schoolwork. His determination to excel quickly showed payoff in the pool. But to progress in competitive swimming, he had to go to a place that provided more opportunity than his hometown.
Amaltdinov left home at 14 for high school in Moscow, some 900 miles away. The facilities, the training were all world class; all he needed to become a better swimmer, to be recognized by an American college and earn an opportunity at a free education.
He battled homesickness, yet thrived in the water. He nearly qualified for Russia’s 2012 Olympic team, missing out by .7 seconds at the trials.
“It was the moment I realized that I could continue swimming after high school and not just quit,” Amaltdinov recalled.
Later that year, he won the European Junior Championships, and the attention of Purdue head coach Dan Ross and assistant J. Agnew.
Swimming was the simple stage of his transition to the United States. Amaltdinov spoke and understood little English. He was a stellar student, but it would take a true team effort to bridge the gap needed to assimilate into one of the nation’s top schools.
Ed Howat’s staff at the Brees Academic Performance Center provided the tutors, the translators and the time management skills to tackle the challenge. The coaches delivered on promises of a bonded team and encouraged Marat to ease up or sit out workouts if he needed extra study time. (He didn’t.) Amaltdinov provided the effort, a characteristic that permeated the entire roster.
“I don’t know if he’s really human,” says Close. “Marat works. And he works and he works. You would come to practice after an exam and be exhausted. I really want to skip some stuff and I look over and Marat’s doing the full set, as written, all out, every day.”
Amaltdinov instilled that work ethic into his study habits, accumulating awards for his academics as rapidly as he did for swimming. He was recognized as a scholar All-American as a freshman by the College Swimming Coaches Association of America. He added Academic All-Big Ten, the Big Ten Distinguished Scholar award and CoSIDA Academic All-District honors as a sophomore. He became Purdue’s first Academic All-American in men's swimming last year.
“Once in a while he’ll come downstairs to eat, but not every day,” says Bursch. “I noticed the fact that every time I go upstairs to my room, he’s got his door slightly cracked. I can see the back of his head face down into his computer or books.
“So, it helps me, he’s just secretly a leader. He doesn’t have to be boasting in your face, like a lot of people who claim to be leaders do.”
A smile on his face. That’s what he hopes we’ll see.
Amaltdinov already has one degree. Despite the language barrier, he earned his Bachleor’s in economics in three years. He’ll have a second graduation for Purdue’s Krannert School of Management in May when he completes his Master’s in finance.
“I don’t want to be some average man,” Amaltdinov says. “I left my family. I sacrificed a lot, so I think it drives me to work hard. Every year, new step, new goal. If you can achieve small goals, it helps to achieve big goals.
“It just depends what you want and how far in this life you want to go. You want to achieve something, you’ve got to work hard. Kind of like with the team, you train and just get used to the lifestyle and it becomes a habit to work hard and balance.”
For his senior teammates, their careers are nearly over. But not until they cheer on Marat one more time. Amaltdinov dives into the pool Friday for preliminary heats of the 100 breaststroke. Saturday, he’ll compete in the 200 breaststroke, his best event. He’s not favored to win either, although he’s certainly a prime candidate to find in the A final with All-America honors when all is said and done.
“Marat wants to win,” Close says. “He does incredible things, but he’s always trying to do something more. He would rather fail trying to do something he can’t do that be conservative in his effort.
“If Marat’s leading at the first 50, it’s over. It’s done.”
A podium awaits. After that, look out world, Marat’s coming for you.
Credits:
Written by Jared Thompson, video by Amanda Shike, photography by Charles Jischke and Rebecca Wilcox