Discipline, tenacity key to success, says Dubai coach

While achievements are built on the knowledge of what one wants, it is discipline, tenacity, and willpower that drive home the record, said a swimming coach from Dubai who has brought home three gold medals, from a recently-concluded international competition in Singapore.

Records, furnished by the management of the UAE Swimming Federation (UAESA/Union)-registered All Stars Academy-Dubai, revealed that Irakli Revishvili clocked in 1:55.03 in the 200-metre (m) freestyle compared to the existing World Champion Record (WR) of 1:51.84; 4:03.09 (WR 4:00.78) in the 400-m freestyle; and 8:26.97 (WR 8:17.65) in the 800-m freestyle, from the July 26 to August 22 “2025 World Aquatics Masters Championships (2025 WAMC).”

Competition dates for the freestyle events (age group 35 to 39) were on August 7, 10 and 13.

UAESA/Union, established in 1974, is the national governing body overseeing swimming, open water swimming, water polo, diving, finswimming, rescue, and underwater sports.

The native of Tsibilsi, Georgia defeated in the 200-m freestyle Robin Backhaus (1:57.01) and Ryan Hanson (1:59.73) who also represented their respective swimming clubs in Germany and the UK – at the races that exhibited as well the dexterity in diving, water polo, artistic swimming, and open water swimming of 6,000 master-aged aquatics athletes from 100 countries.

In the 400-m freestyle, Revishvili overpowered Lorenzo Giovannini (4:13.6, Italy) and Vladimir Malgin (4:24.95, Norway). He slayed Giovannini (8:45.03) once more at the 800-m freestyle where Juan Ortiz (9:08.40, Mexico) settled for the bronze.

'No electricity, no gas, no transport'

The 36-year-old coach to children and adults – even triathlon athletes – in the past four years in Dubai, was his country’s flag carrier at his “first world championship in 2004.”

However, the dive and plunge of the Sports College in Georgia alumnus, into what he has become, was not an easy lap. Albeit his being in sport, "is genetics.” His paternal grandfather was a “national champion in sports gymnastics.” His father was a “national football team member in the 1990s.”

“My swimming journey started when I was eight in 1996. At that time, my country was in a bad situation because the civil war destroyed it. No electricity. No gas. No transportation,” recalled Revishvili.

Fresh in his memory until now, is his little boy experience with his parents, in Spain, when he got petrified to be even “touching the swimming pool water.” Yet, loved the “shallow waters of the Atlantic Ocean.”

Shifting back to his Georgia narrative, he continued: “Grandma and I had to walk 3.5 kilometres, 45 minutes a day to reach the pool at 6:50 pm. Practices started at seven o’ clock.”

That was relevant. Tardiness forfeited his twice-a-day training, before and after school. It was among the trainings he had to endure, “putting in a lot of work and dedication if I wanted to be the best swimmer in the country.”

“Work without discipline is nothing” said the several times over internationally-bemedalled mentor, a Georgia Junior National Team trainor, too.

Two of his students in Dubai since 2021 and since nine months back, respectively, are Egyptian Yousef Alboraeay, 14, and Filipino-Indian Sara Alizon Srinivasan, 10.

Said Alboraey, a swimming student since age eight: “The most important lesson I learnt from Coach Irakli, and which I always remind my family and friends, is about discipline and consistency. Not to give up when things become difficult. He always reminds us that success comes from working hard every day."

Srinivasan, who aims to get enlisted into the Philippine National Swimming Team and become a professional swimmer, said: “For that, Coach Irakli reminds me that I should be disciplined, smart and strategic.”

“He said that I must always remember the techniques to make me fast. Not be nervous during competitions. Get proper sleep and diet. That I should be responsible for all my swimming items,” added Srinivasan, whose involvement in the sport since five years back, is a consequence of a life-threatening condition upon birth.

Srinivasan’s mother, Rachel, regularly follows Revishvili’s posts about the improvements on his students-athletes’ “physique, dietary research and advice, and their muscle activities. I understand more what my child needs. That being an athlete is not only about daily training. It requires discipline and mental strength. It is not only about speed but also strategy. That swimming is not only about physical strength.”