The golden boy of Israeli swimming warms up for the European Championships
He trained between sirens, saw shrapnel falling in the yard of his home in Nahariya, and realized that the war was endangering his career. At 19, just before moving to college, Okan Goldin jumps into the water at his first senior European Championship – and sets his sights on Los Angeles 2028: "I have it in me."
19-year-old Okan Goldin is already used to the fact that his name makes people pause for a moment. After all, how many people in Israel know the region in southern Argentina after which he is named? His father, Eitan, has South American roots, and he decided that the meaning of the place's name, "fighter" – in a mental sense, not physical – would suit his son. And he was not wrong.
"I really like it," says Goldin in an interview just before he opens his first senior European Championship tomorrow. "There are no other people with a name like mine, I checked. I know it's a strange name, but I always answer that it's from South America and that it has a meaning. When I was the youngest in the national teams, they used to call me 'Tino-kan' (baby-an), which was funny."
So Goldin is no longer a baby, and this week he will jump into the water with the big names at the continental championship being held in Paris. He already competed in December in this arena in short-course pools, but understands that this time it is the real thing. "I can swim very fast, and this championship will be a very important milestone towards the Olympic Games in Los Angeles 2028 and for my career as an athlete in general," he declares.
What are you looking forward to most?
"Seeing how it is in the summer, when everyone arrives at the peak of their preparation. We were at a high-altitude training camp in Italy, three weeks, it was my first time. I'm waiting to see big names like Leon Marchand or Adam Peaty. As a child, I used to watch them on TV and now I can swim next to them and learn from them. It will be cool, but I will have to keep a cool head."
A matter of style
Goldin's career began at age six, in a swimming class at Maccabi Nahariya, which over the years evolved into a professional career. At the championship, he will swim the 100 and 200-meter backstroke – events in which he finished sixth and fifth respectively at the World Junior Championships last year. He discovered the backstroke style only at age 12, after years as a freestyle and butterfly swimmer.
"The coach there told me that the two styles were not enough to be in the Israeli championship in the youth category," he recalls. "I tried, on her recommendation, to swim 200 meters backstroke, and I swam it better than my other strokes. She saw that there was talent and over time it evolved into me swimming more backstroke than anything else."
Goldin is an only child to his parents, Eitan and Danka, each of whom comes from a different sport – but with a direct connection to water. His father competes in triathlon and his mother competed in diving in Slovakia. The two met during their studies at the Technion and settled in Nahariya. "It was a matter of time for them until I reached the sport. Dad's favorite part of the triathlon is swimming," he says. "At first I didn't like going to the class, but they didn't push too hard, they knew not to pressure me. They were strict with me about eating properly and sleeping early. Today I am grateful for that."
The impact of war
Goldin moved to the academy at 16. Did he go for it because of the security situation in the north?
"Also. The support system at the Wingate Institute is better, and I understood that without it, it would be very difficult for me to improve. Before the move, I felt what you don't feel in the center: many sirens, pressure, having to make it to the safe room. Now I think about my parents all the time, because they are there. We had shrapnel in the garden from the missiles. In the first year of the war, right after October 7, I didn't train in the water. I would do fitness training at home."
The pool was closed repeatedly due to Home Front Command directives. "The first half-year made me realize that I had to leave, there was a fear for my career. I saw how friends in the club were affected by what was happening, they couldn't improve results. In my opinion, what happened in the north was very much downplayed compared to the center. There was a long period when I didn't sleep at all, they subjected us to mental exhaustion: a siren at one, then at four, then at seven. It's jarring. It's sad that many young athletes from the area stopped training because of the war."
The American dream
Goldin will soon leave Israel for the University of California, Berkeley, where alongside swimming he will study economics and business administration. In the meantime, he is already starting to convert meters to yards in his head.
"It's a different sport, a different culture," he says. "It's also a necessary step. I'm arriving with a calm head, knowing that I can develop there both as an athlete and as a person. I received a gift."
Who made the match? "Dave Marsh, the association's consultant. He coached there until a few months ago. In September, I visited five universities, three days in each place. In the end, Berkeley appealed to me the most. They excel at taking good swimmers and making them better."
And Los Angeles will be very close to you physically. How close are you in terms of the criteria? "In the area of 1.3 seconds. The criteria opens next year, and it's very difficult compared to Paris. I believe I have it in me. Let's see how I get closer to it at the European Championships."
