Askar Ospanov, a retired police major general in Kazakhstan, decided to become a serious swimmer relatively late in life, around the age of 60. Inspiration came when he was cheering from the sidelines at the 2018 Bosphorus Cross-Continental Swimming Race, an annual event in which about 2,500 people swim 6.5 kilometers from the Asian shore to the European side of Istanbul. 

Ospanov’s eldest son, Galym, himself an accomplished athlete, had completed the crossing in one hour and 18 minutes. A favorable current means many swimmers log fast times across the Bosphorus.

“Then, about 30–40 minutes later, everyone on the shore suddenly started buzzing. I thought maybe someone had drowned… or perhaps Erdoğan (the president of Turkey) had arrived. I told my kids, ‘Find out what’s going on, quickly!’” 66-year-old Ospanov said. 

It turned out that beloved Turkish swimmer Levent Aksüt, then in his late 80s, had just finished. 

“Everyone stood and applauded his achievement,” said Ospanov, who saw Aksüt as a role model for his new passion. 

In September, the Kazakhstani swam about 15 kilometers across the Strait of Bonifacio, from the French island of Corsica to the Italian island of Sardinia, in seven hours and 50 minutes. He has competed in international open-water swimming competitions, including OCEANMAN and X-WATERS events, in numerous places at various distances. He has won prizes in the 60+ category in Dubai, Thailand, at Issyk-Kul Lake in Kyrgyzstan and in Kazakhstan, a landlocked country with big lakes and reservoirs. 

“If someone wants to start swimming after 60, it’s absolutely necessary to do stretching exercises. The arms and legs will gradually loosen up!” Ospanov said. 

“Since childhood, I played volleyball,” the Almaty resident said. “Then my knees started hurting, and I couldn’t play volleyball at full strength anymore. Doctors said that for the knee joints, you need movement without load… That meant either cycling or swimming. I didn’t feel like buying a bike, so I chose swimming. With each passing year, swimming gave me more and more strength. Gradually, the results started coming.”

Swimming coach Evgeny Alexandrov, who has been awarded the prestigious Master of Sport of International Class title by Kazakhstan’s government, has worked with Ospanov for several years. 

The coach described his student as tough, punctual, and responsible. However, Alexandrov said, “turning him into an ideal swimmer quickly isn’t possible due to age-related limitations and some acquired health issues,” including knee pain and a right arm weakened by years of playing volleyball, which meant he only breathed on his left side in the pool.

“When he was learning to swim, he couldn’t breathe every three strokes — he only inhaled on his left side, resulting in an asymmetrical freestyle stroke with excessive body roll. In open water, if the sun and waves are on the left, it becomes difficult for Askar,” the 44-year-old coach said.  

Ospanov had that problem to some extent in the Strait of Bonifacio, where proper alignment in the water can offset the challenges of wind, waves and current. 

“At his age, it’s difficult to increase speed through physical load and sprint work, so we decided to focus on improving his technique instead,” including breathing on both sides, Alexandrov said 

“I hope that through various exercises, we’ll be able to even out his arm and leg work, emphasize a long pull in a two-beat distance freestyle stroke, and as a result, improve his body position in the water. This will give him proper balance, better glide, and ultimately help us increase his speed,” said the coach. Alexandrov used to swim two kilometers on the Kapchagay Reservoir north of Almaty when he was a teenager – “in our competitions the distance was only 200 meters, but even back then I was drawn to long-distance, open-water swims.”

Ospanov trains at the Altyn-Kargaly Hotel-Sanatorium in Almaty, averaging 10 kilometers in the pool over three sessions a week. He also takes three weekly yoga classes to improve flexibility. His three sons – Galym, Aslan and Imangali – are faster, long-distance swimmers, and some grandchildren are now competing in races.  

Grandfather Ospanov’s other role models include Australian Cyril Baldock, who was 70 when he swam across the English Channel in 2014; Astana resident Salatanat Tuitebayev, who came second in the 80-89 age category at this year’s New York City marathon, finishing in four hours and 45 minutes; and Japan’s Mieko Nagaoka, who completed a 1,500-meter freestyle swim at the age of 100 in 2015.

Ospanov worked for Kazakhstan’s government for 40 years, 30 of those with the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Last week, in full uniform and accompanied by his son, Galym, he visited the recently renovated high school where he graduated with honors in Zhansugurovo, a village in the Almaty area that is named after an early 20th-century Kazakhstani poet. 

Some students, perhaps seeing a role model, asked Ospanov about his swimming feats.