Azerbaijani endurance swimmer Jamil Aliyev has opened up about the extreme mental and physical challenge behind his national record for continuous swimming in a pool.
Speaking to İdman.Biz, Aliyev confirmed that he spent 13 hours in the water without stopping, explaining that psychological preparation played an equally important role as physical training in achieving the remarkable feat.
“A person can renew the body through the power of the mind,” Aliyev said. “Muscle fatigue is also a controllable process. Even when it seems impossible to continue, a person can still find energy within themselves. Physically, I was not ideally prepared, but I forced my brain to give me strength.”
The swimmer revealed that he intentionally made the challenge even harder by swimming with chains attached to his legs during the opening hour. Near the end of the attempt, he also added chains to his hands.
“I wanted to break the record in a more difficult way,” he explained. “It is like in a game: you can choose easy, medium or hard mode.”
Aliyev said he strongly believes the human brain can be “programmed” to achieve specific goals. According to the athlete, the mind can even perceive one month of preparation as if the training process had lasted three times longer.
The Azerbaijani swimmer also spoke about the thoughts that kept him going during the marathon session in the pool. At times, he imagined himself alone in the middle of the ocean, treating the swim as a personal mission and visualising himself emerging from the water as a different person.
“There were moments when I did not even think I was swimming anymore,” he said. “I closed my eyes and simply kept moving. It felt as if I no longer existed, only my hands and body continued to work.”
Aliyev believes success depends on three key elements working together: belief, desire and action. He added that learning to control the mind helped him recover quickly after the record attempt, saying he woke up the following day without feeling exhausted because he had mentally prepared himself for that outcome in advance.
The swimmer admitted he still does not fully understand why he is drawn to such extreme tests of endurance. He recalled that the idea first came to him years ago during a spontaneous overnight swim in an empty pool.
“I came to the pool, made an arrangement with the security guard and started swimming in complete darkness,” Aliyev recalled. “I only realised morning had arrived when I saw light coming through the windows.”
Aliyev also reflected on the challenges he has faced in both sport and life, insisting that every obstacle only strengthened his determination. He ended the interview by expressing hope that a stronger generation will emerge in Azerbaijan, one that is unafraid of hardship and ready to fight until the very end.
