Russian swimmer Andrei Minakov recently divulged some interesting insights into his time at Stanford in an interview with forbes.ru. Among other things, he explained that his goals at Stanford were more academic than athletic, and said that he began his Stanford education remotely while training for the Tokyo Olympics with the Russian national team.
The Decision to Swim in the United States
When entering college, Minakov desired to combine studies and sport at the highest level. He said that due to the lack of a strong student-sports infrastructure, he knew that it could not be done in his home country.
Minakov states that around the time he was choosing where to swim in college, he did not have any high goals set for his swimming career, despite having taken silver in the men’s 100 fly at the 2019 World Championships in Budapest. Instead, he saw his success in the sport as a way to get into Stanford: “…I wanted to get into the university, thanks to my results in swimming.”
Minakov was never rejected by Stanford, but he didn’t get in on his first try, either. He decided to withdraw his first application due to his lack of satisfaction with his test scores. If Minakov was rejected on his first attempt, he said, it would be more difficult to be accepted next year. His decision was supported by the Stanford coaching staff, and Minakov was accepted to the university the next year.
How Minakov Landed at Stanford
Schools often reach out to top-tier athletes when they begin the college selection process. Minakov has a different story. He spent summers racing for the Terrapins Swim Team in California. Upon prompting, Minakov gave his club coach at Terrapins a list of universities he was interested in attending. That list included Stanford. His coach then sent letters endorsing Minakov to his schools of choice.
A Difficult First Year
Minakov entered Stanford as a freshman in 2020 and faced the academic challenges that came along with the COVID-19 pandemic. He opted out of the 2020-2021 NCAA season and stayed in Russia, where he began his academic career by studying remotely while he prepared for the Tokyo Olympics with the Russian national team. Minakov described it as “one of the most difficult moments for me.” Taking college-level courses for the first time while also participating in his nation’s Olympic training camp is an undeniably difficult workload.
Stanford Swimming’s Policy on Fraternities
During the course of the interview, Minakov was asked about one of the more unique aspects of American college culture: fraternities. When asked if he participated, Minakov responded, “The coach forbids us, because their values do not always coincide with the goals of those who want to achieve high sports results.”
When talking about the college party culture, Minakov did describe some culture shock. “The guys are all young and crazy, in a good way.”
Does an Athletic Scholarship buy you Academic Freebies?
No, says Minakov. “You study for real, there is simply no other way.” He went on to describe the academic standards required of Stanford swimmers: athletes must pass 12 units per quarter or face suspension.
That rule may not be hugely popular among the swimmers and coaches, but Minakov highlights its efficacy. The average team GPA at Stanford is 3.85, the second-highest average in the nation, Minakov says.
Student Life as a swimmer at Stanford
Minakov said his college experience was unlike what his countryfolk would expect, describing his student life as “modest.” He highlighted one of the hallmarks of swimming in college, late nights and early mornings: “Sometimes I went to bed at one o’clock in the morning, and at six in the morning I jumped into the water.”
No Regrets
Despite the heavy load that comes with being a student-athlete, Minakov says he has no regrets taking the path he did. “Maybe I could make more progress in terms of results in sports, but education at Stanford is more than sports.”
Minakov delivered strong performances at Stanford and has had multiple successes at the international level. His career highlights include a silver in the men’s 100 butterfly at the 2019 World Championships, the fastest 100 freestyle of 2020 (47.57), and an NCAA Championship title in the 100 fly in 2022 (43.73).
Among the quartet winning medley relay in Singapore, he’s the least gifted compared to the rest trio, as is proved by his performances against peers’ in respective styles. Ironically he is the most aggressive to discharge grudges when the NAB side finishing the race.
Great mindset to have! At the end of the day, swimming is not a lucrative career for the majority of people. Planning for your future should be at the forefront of your mind.
This explains his stagnant times in the 100 fly. Still very fast, it takes work to split 50 low time and time again.
Another example we see of a swimmer who knows this sport is not available as a career path.
He was already stagnant for 2 years before he got there to be fair.
I get why it was not talked about, but this did avoid the one thing we are most interested in when it comes to him in the current geopolitical climate.
Yeah this article didn’t really say much. He was one of the top are groupers in high school so I doubt Stanford would have rejected him.
What is an academic freebie? Does the interviewer think Stanford is letting kids take bogus classes or something? Weird question
shes probably just referencing stuff like what goes down in other sports like football and even swimming w bauerle and khalisz lol
“Does the interviewer think Stanford is letting kids take bogus classes or something? Weird question”
You’d be surprised how many universities do that, especially when they pay you millions to play quarterback
I think the whole interview is actually a pretty interesting look into how the rest of the world views the NCAA system, especially in places like Russia (or China) where being an elite athlete is viewed as a “service to the country” akin to being in the military or working in government.
You hear this time and time again, and there’s rarely any domestic pushback: international swimmers come to the NCAA because they can study AND train at an elite level at the same time. That just doesn’t happen in most of the world.
Honestly, why do we need a swimmer in his early 20s to comment on geopolitics in an interview with a swimming website? Nobody cared what Michael Phelps thought about the war in Iraq.
Minakov was like 12 when Russia annexed Crimea. I doubt he has any special insight, and you’re really just putting him in an unfair situation by asking him about the war. Everyone here would be angry with him if he didn’t denounce Putin, but doing so would get him in trouble at home.
As I read this it reminded me of David Popovic, the mindset etc.. with regard to academics and not sacrificing absolutely everything in the name of athletics.