Melting His Gold Medal, 18-Year-Old Swimmer Popular As Chlorine Daddy Makes a Noble Gesture for Cancer Survivors

18-year-old Olympian David Popovici is an emerging star swimmer. In the 2022 World Championships, Popovici achieved gold medals in the Men?s 100-meter and 200-meter freestyle races. However, unlike other athletes, the swimmer had a different plan for his gold medals. In 2023, the freestyle swimmer made headlines for donating one of his medals to children battling cancer. Recently, Popovici featured in a video with the cancer-affected kids, showing how he used his medals for them.?

On May 3, the swimming prodigy took to his Instagram to share a heart-winning video of him donating his medals to help children suffering from cancer. He also wrote a gratitude-filled note for the cause and urged people to spread awareness about cancer.?

What did David Popovici do with his gold medals?

David Popovici donated the gold medal he won in the Men?s 200-meter freestyle category to the Romanian organization MedLife. He got it melted into 100 beautiful and tiny golden ribbon badges for children who have beaten cancer. Being a brand ambassador of MedLife?s #SperantaNuMoareDeCancer campaign, Popovici featured in the video expressing his support for people battling cancer.

In the Romanian video, Popovici was presented wearing his gold medal whose ribbons are eventually cut and passed into a machine that melts it into gold ribbons. Moreover, it also featured three children between the ages of 10 to 12. They talk about their journeys and are also seen following their passion while wearing their gold ribbon badges. By the end of the video, the three children and David Popovici sit at a table raising awareness for cancer cure.?

Along with the video, Popovici also wrote a heartfelt message in his caption that read, “I chose to donate my gold medal from the World Championship as a sign of hope for children diagnosed with cancer.” He added, ?But I am asking everyone to get involved and spread the word about this free trial program so that those who really need it can benefit from it”.

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Besides his noble gesture, David Popovici has been making headlines for his swimming prowess. In 2022, he broke a 13-year-old record that made Bob Bowman draw comparisons with swimming GOAT Michael Phelps.?

David Popovici reminded Bob Bowman of Michael Phelps

In 2022, young David Popovici made heads turn by competing in the men?s 100m freestyle at the European Swimming Championships. He completed the race within 46.86 seconds, shattering the 13-year-old world record of 46.91 set by Brazil?s Cesar Cielo at the 2009 FINA world championships.?

His great feat at breaking the world made him a swimming prodigy. In fact, Bob Bowman, the long-time coach of Phelps, saw a resemblance to the Flying Fish in Popovici. In an interview with Swimswam, he told,??they were built similarly, really skinny, little guys? they?re generating speed by reducing drag, right? Which is the best way to do it anyway.??Bowman believed that the young swimmer can pace to swim longer distances by utilizing his energy effectively.?

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It?s wonderful to see Popovici contributing to such noble causes at such a young age. Currently, the swimmer has again made headlines for qualifying for the 2024 Paris Olympics. Hopefully, the world will soon see the rise of the great swimmer.?