“You don’t have to be perfect. Just celebrate yourself as you are.” This message is important to Angelina Köhler. She has said it a few times, or something like it, since she unexpectedly became swimming world champion in February and her voice gained weight. On Saturday afternoon, after finishing her not-so-perfect 200-meter butterfly race, she stretched her arm over the line to the girl on the track next door. She smiled at Alina Baievych, this 14-year-old swimmer from Erlangen who had just snatched the German championship title from her in Berlin.
“Congratulations,” said Köhler. Baievych was still staring at the results board on the hall wall. The spectators had risen from their bucket seats. They clapped and were amazed that a teenager had just defeated the world champion in the 100 meter butterfly. But what does Köhler like to say? “With me you never know what will happen. It’s never boring with me.”
Köhler pulled the young opponent onto her shoulder for a warm hug. Neither had reached the nomination time for the Olympic Games in Paris on this route. Köhler was breathing heavily. The 200 meter butterfly race is one of the toughest disciplines in the pool. Lactate production shoots up, it is higher than on the shorter sprint distance. Qualifying for the Olympics in the 200 meters was an experiment. Failed: “Now I definitely know what I won’t swim (this race/ed.) at the Olympic Games,” remarked Köhler after she got out of the pool. She didn’t seem down at all: “It was still fun and cool to fight. Now I can concentrate 100 percent on the 100 meters.”
Surprise winner of the 100 meter butterfly: teenager Alina Baievych defeats the world championdpa
Angelina Köhler has been the “queen” of the 100 meter butterfly since February. In Doha she won the first world title by a German pool swimmer since Britta Steffen won twice 15 years ago. Köhler “slammed” a German record into the pool in the semifinals in 56.11 seconds and catapulted himself into the top of the world with the ninth-best time ever swum.
Chaos is also allowed
In Berlin, she confidently won the German championship title in the 100 meter butterfly on Thursday – almost three seconds ahead of Baievych. It was Köhler’s first competitive appearance as world champion. In the few weeks between February and April, the 23-year-old tried to process all the new things that come to professional athletes when they win a major title – and stand out as a personality. Angelina Köhler does this in a particularly likeable way. It can already be said: her fresh, open manner is good for the German Swimming Association (DSV).
Its perception was recently primarily shaped by the ambition of the successful Magdeburg long-distance group around Florian Wellbrock, Isabel Gose and Lukas Märtens. Märtens set the highlights of the German championship at the weekend with annual world best times in the 200 and 400 meter freestyle. Ever since Angelina Köhler had the World Cup gold medal hanging around her neck in tears and emotions in Doha, she has been trying to show that success does not have to mean perfectionism. But that chaos is also allowed. And a bit of misfortune – as long as the environment is ready to adapt to it.
“Angie is our sun”
Köhler’s sports environment includes Lasse Frank’s sprinter group at SG Neukölln, to which she moved from Hanover two years ago. There she experienced for the first time what individual, all-round support at a world-class level means: that every dolphin kick and – to put it bluntly – every muscle movement is analyzed. The powerful arm pull was always one of Köhler’s strengths. She made up for the second she lost to the world leader earlier at the start and the additional second she lost at the turnaround with more powerful dolphin kicks.
At SG Neukölln, Köhler not only found training mates, but best friends, her best friend in backstroke swimmer Ole Braunschweig and a person in coach Frank who has a feel for managing colorful individuals within a team. “Angie is our sun,” says Frank: “She either comes late and is hectic. Or she comes in beaming with her rainbow socks walking and greets everyone warmly. It relaxes you immensely when you go into a tough session with a smile. That disappears from time to time. But in the end it’s back.”
Angelina Köhler also knows the days without a smile. After her world title, she talked about bullying during puberty. “If you’re pretty tall and thin, have long arms and a little bit bigger teeth, if you wear glasses and fall over your feet, it’s pretty easy for tall, older boys to make fun of you.” said Köhler. This experience strengthened her.
“We have the same quirk”
It was only much later that her ADHD diagnosis gave her an explanation as to why she simply couldn’t do some things like others. Which is why she sometimes forgets her swimming goggles, sometimes her swimsuit, sometimes her drinking bottle in the hall. Which is why she often needs extreme calm to process stimuli. Which is why, on the other hand, she manages to immerse herself in hyperfocus during important competitions. Regular work with the psychologist at the Berlin Olympic base helped her to accept all of this.
Just like the friendship with Ole Braunschweig. He was diagnosed with ADHD in childhood. “Because we have the same quirk, we are on the same level. Our ADHD flare-ups connect us. We have a similar sense of humor and totally understand each other,” says Braunschweig. The backstroker is looking forward to competing with Köhler in the mixed medley relay in Paris. Köhler says her goal is to have fun in Paris. To get to the final – and see what their performance is good for.
