Swimming’s Chlorine Daddy is part Michael Phelps, part Ryan Lochte, uniquely himself

At 17 years old, David Popovici scaled the heights of swimming this summer. He swept the 100m and 200m freestyles at the world championships in Hungary, a nation that borders his native Romania.

Popovici, the youngest man to win a world title in 15 years, knew he could celebrate by doing just about anything he pleased. So he did on that late June night.

“I wanted to eat something good, and I wanted to eat a lot, and I wanted to stay up late,” he said in a poolside interview three days after his last race at Budapest’s Duna Arena, presumably enough time to rest, and to digest more than just the lasagna, duck, seafood and dessert.

After that feast, Popovici did something that speaks to the unique personality of the self-appointed “Chlorine Daddy.”

“I just wandered the streets,” he said.

In a scene reminiscent of Charles Barkley strolling Las Ramblas in 1992 — well, maybe not quite to that scale — the 6-foot-3 kid mingled with Hungarians and Romanians alike, sharing the afterglow of his victories in the dark of night.

“Sometimes,” Popovici said, ruminating in flip-flops in a chair a few steps from the pool, “you need to feed your brain as well.”

Popovici, born and raised in Bucharest, made the move from junior prodigy to, as Romania’s daily sports newspaper splashed it, “King David” at worlds in Budapest, two years before the Paris Olympics.

“You know, my neck is quite heavy because of the medals,” he said, according to FINA. “So I need to strengthen that part for the next meets.”

The link in Popovici’s Instagram bio provides a comprehensive account of his life up to those breakout world championships. His coach since age 9, Adrian Radulescu, confirmed the veracity of such stories as:

Popovici began swimming at age 4 for