Swimming-Frustrated with France, Arkhelangskiy savours Asian Games gold for adopted Bahrain

A son of political refugees who fled ​Russia for France, swimmer Michel Arkhangelskiy, travelled ​a long road to finally clinch ‌his ​first major title at the Asian Games under the flag of Bahrain. The 21-year-old won the 50-metre butterfly gold on Thursday at the ‌Tokyo Aquatics Centre in a time of 22.91 seconds, matching exactly his Asian record set in France in June.

Bahrain was never Arkhangelskiy's first choice as a nation to represent in his sport, ‌but neither was Russia. "If I go back to Russia I'll be arrested because my family ‌are political opponents," said Arkhangelskiy, now a college swimmer for University of California, Berkeley.

As a non-citizen, France was also not an option despite living in the country for some 16 years. "I was waiting for a long time and ⁠at one ​point I was just ⁠disappointed," he said.

"I was pissed off about all this, all the politics, because you know it's quite difficult to ⁠be the son of a political refugee." Bahrain, however, welcomed him with open arms as it has for ​plenty of top athletes born overseas.

Choosing the Gulf nation is not such a surprise, said ⁠the swimmer, whose father was born in Kazakhstan while his mother grew up in an Asian part of Russia. It's ⁠been ​win-win for country and athlete, with Bahrain providing a high level of support and Arkhangelskiy winning the country its first Asian Games swimming title.

Arkhangelskiy declined to provide details on the ⁠nature of his sponsorship from Bahrain but said he liked how the country was invested in ⁠swimming. "I have all the ⁠best conditions to swim for ... everything is covered so I'm in the best condition to perform - as you see with the Asian Games ‌gold medal," he ‌said.