Hungarian husband’s crazy poolside antics taking attention away from wife’s incredible Rio performances
HUNGARY’S Katinka Hosszu has emerged as the star of the Rio pool with a medal haul to rival Australia, but it’s her lunatic husband capturing much of the attention.
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AND the Olympic gold medal for the loopiest performance by a coach or husband (in this case both) goes to Shane Tusup, mentor, motivator … maniac, of Hungarian swimmer Katinka Hosszu.
Hosszu won the 200m individual medley in Rio on Wednesday morning — her third win of the Games which, if they did it this way, which they don’t — would put her in equal fifth place on the gold medal table alongside Russia, Italy, South Korea and Japan, and ahead of France.
The win came from a typically dominant performance from the 27-year-old who combines raw power with grace and elegance to produce a style which is a pleasure to watch. Or it would be if anyone was watching.
Trouble is, once you get a look at Tusup going berserk on the pool-deck, it’s almost impossible to take your eyes off him.
He rants, he raves, he punches the air — and then punches himself. He cups his hands and shouts instructions (which given that his wife’s head is often under water and there are 10,000 other people screaming at the same time, is probably not going to do much good).
He jumps up and down, runs a few metres up the side of the pool and a few metres back.
And when she wins (which she has every time she has dived into the pool this week) he makes high-pitched whooping noises and spins around, thumping his chest.
How best to describe him? Well, Wayne Bennett or Paul Roos he ain’t.
There have been some whispers in swimming circles that Tusup — an American who met his wife when they were both students at the University of Southern California — goes a little too far with his coaching methods.
A former training partner of Hosszu said that she had seen tough love, but “this is another level — it’s scary”.
Hosszu has no complaints. She says she knows the difference between Shane the coach and Shane the husband and besides, no matter how hard he pushes her, she can take it.
After all, her nickname is Iron Lady (and if you don’t believe me, have a look at the tattoo on the inside of his left bicep).
And while his topknot, three day growth and cargo pants that can’t seem to stay up, might not be what the swimming world is used to, there’s no question that his methods are working.
With her wins in the 200m and 400m IM and 200m backstroke, Hosszu has become the first female swimmer since Inge de Bruin at Sydney 2000 to win three gold medals at a single Olympics.
De Bruin’s coach, by the way, was Jacco Verhaeren, the current coach of the Australian team.
So maybe that’s what the Aussies need: a bit of air-punching, chest-thumping and jumping up and down.
How do you think you’d look with a topknot Jacco?
Originally published as Hungarian husband’s crazy poolside antics taking attention away from wife’s incredible Rio performances
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