Bosnian junior swimming champion Iman Avdic is still training during the COVID-19 lockdown thanks to her father's home-made solution.
RESENDING WITH UPDATED SCRIPT VIDEO SHOWS: BOSNIAN JUNIOR SWIMMING CHAMPION IMAN AVDIC SWIMMING IN SMALL POOL IN GREENHOUSE / SHOTS OF GREENHOUSE AND ORCHARD / INTERVIEW WITH IMAN AVDIC AND HER FATHER AND COACH EVELIN AVDIC SHOWS: DOBOJ, AND HERZEGOVINA (APRIL 23, 2020) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1.
VARIOUS OF BOSNIAN JUNIOR SWIMMING CHAMPION IMAN AVDIC, TRAINING IN A 3X2-METRE POOL WHICH SITS IN A GREENHOUSE IN HER GRANDFATHER'S GARDEN 2.
VIEW OF SWIMMING POOL IN THE GREENHOUSE WITH HER GRANDFATHER'S HOUSE IN THE BACKGROUND 3.
(SOUNDBITE) (Bosnian) BOSNIAN JUNIOR SWIMMING CHAMPION, IMAN AVDIC, SAYING: "Well this is in some way very unusual for me but everything can be done as before, just in a different way." 4.
VARIOUS OF IMAN AVDIC DOING STRETCHING EXERCISES 5.
(SOUNDBITE) (Bosnian) BOSNIAN JUNIOR SWIMMING CHAMPION, IMAN AVDIC, SAYING: "I'm the record holder across all freestyle disciplines - from 50 to 1500 metres." 5.
VARIOUS OF IMAN'S FATHER AND COACH, EVELIN AVDIC TYING BUNGEE ROPE TO A POST 6.
(SOUNDBITE) (Bosnian) IMAN'S FATHER AND COACH, EVELIN AVDIC, SAYING: "In this period, the training goes on and we have to be creative.
At first we started daily training outside the pool, we live in Sarajevo so we climbed Bjelasnica (a mountain)." 7.
IMAN WALKING TO THE POOL WEARING A DRESSING GOWN 8.
(SOUNDBITE) (Bosnian) IMAN'S FATHER AND COACH, EVELIN AVDIC, SAYING: "When the weather turned for the better, we came up with the idea of swimming on the spot to retain that feeling in the water.
And we succeeded with this little invention." 9.
EVELIN TALKING TO IMAN 10.
(SOUNDBITE) (Bosnian) BOSNIAN JUNIOR SWIMMING CHAMPION, IMAN AVDIC, SAYING: "My coach continues with the same training as before, except that we now train by measuring minutes, while before we have been doing it by the distance." 11.
IMAN AVDIC PLACING HER GOGGLES ON 12.
IMAN AVDIC SECURING THE BUNGEE ROPE AROUND HER WAIST 13.
VARIOUS OF IMAN AVDIC TRAINING IN THE POOL 14.
(SOUNDBITE) (Bosnian) IMAN'S FATHER AND COACH, EVELIN AVDIC, SAYING: "This form of training is just a transitional solution, for a swimmer to have a feel for distance, you train differently in a 25-metre pool and a 50-metre pool, and here we only swim in one spot with a certain resistance." 15.
(SOUNDBITE) (Bosnian) BOSNIAN JUNIOR SWIMMING CHAMPION, IMAN AVDIC, SAYING: "It is very nice here, and I'm happy to be able to swim and train in all these conditions." 16.
VARIOUS OF EVELIN AVDIC HOLDING THE BUNGEE ROPE WHILE IMAN SWIMS 17.
(SOUNDBITE) (Bosnian) BOSNIAN JUNIOR SWIMMING CHAMPION, IMAN AVDIC, SAYING: "I can adapt to this training, but I miss the pool a lot." 18.
VARIOUS OF IMAN AVDIC TRAINING STORY: Competitive swimmers around the world had their training plans scuppered when coronavirus lockdowns forced the closure of most pools.
Not so in the case of Bosnian junior swimming champion Iman Avdic, whose father has come up with a home-made solution.
The 13-year-old Avdic is training in a 3x2-metre pool which sits in a greenhouse in her grandfather's garden.
Clad in a wetsuit, she swims while tied to a bungee rope to hold her in place.
At first Avdic, who lives in Sarajevo but is staying with her grandparents in the northern town of Doboj, had maintained her form by hiking and running, but had to find an alternative when authorities barred minors from leaving their homes as part of their measures to contain the new coronavirus.
"It is all kind of odd for me but everything can be done like before but in a slightly different way.
It's easy for me to adapt but I miss a real pool," Avdic said.
Her father and coach, Evelin Avdic, said that initially the metal-framed, plastic pool had stood in the open air.
Finding that the water was too cold, he came up with the idea of placing the pool inside a greenhouse.
Avdic holds national records in 50-1,500 m freestyle, 100m, 200m, 400m mixed style, 200 m dolphin and 200 m backstroke and breaststroke.
There have been more than 1,400 confirmed coronavirus cases and 54 deaths in Bosnia.
Like elsewhere, stay-at-home orders to halt the spread of the disease have hit businesses and jobs.
(Production: Dado Ruvic, Tim Hart, Ursa Presern)
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