ASU swimmer Ilya Kharun shares his experience at the 2024 Paris Olympics at a press conference on Monday, Sept. 30 and how he’ll use what he learned for ASU’s upcoming swim and dive season. (Photo by Natalie Lopez/Cronkite News)
TEMPE – Arizona State swimmers took center stage in Paris during the Olympic finals of the 200-meter butterfly on July 31. The Canadian-born Ilya Kharun captured Olympic bronze, while his former Sun Devil teammate Leon Marchand of France won gold. Four days later, in the 100-meter butterfly, Kharun secured his second bronze for Canada at just 19 years old.
Nearly three months later, as Marchand settles into his professional career, Kharun is back in the Valley and leading the Sun Devils as ASU’s swim and dive team leaps into a new season under a new coach, Herbie Behm. Last Monday, Kharun and Behm paused to reflect on a wild summer in Paris, while looking ahead at the Sun Devils’ new era as part of the Big 12 Conference.
“Such an honor, representing the country and performing at that stage,” Kharun said about his Olympic experience. “It did take me some time to actually (realize) like wow, I was there. Because in the moment at the Olympics, I didn’t think of it as a big deal.”
Kharun keeps his medals on the wall in his apartment, and there are still some moments where he’s in disbelief of his accomplishments in Paris.
“There’s people in the world doing so many things way harder than this, all I have to do is swim four laps,” he said.
Born to Ukrainian parents in Montreal, Kharun’s formative years were spent in Las Vegas, before joining the Sun Devils last fall. In his freshman season, he earned the Sun Devils two gold medals at the NCAA championships in the 200-meter butterfly and the 4×100 medley relay, while the team brought home the overall championship.
It would be easy to imagine Kharun would be nervous during meets, let alone Olympic medal races. However, he couldn’t help but think of that perspective about simplifying his goal down to four laps when he was sitting in the ready room, and it helped calm him down.
Back in Tempe, Kharun will be coached by a familiar face once again, as Behm, a former Sun Devils associate coach, was elevated to the top job last offseason when longtime coach Bob Bowman left ASU for the University of Texas. Behm is no stranger to the area, as he also swam collegiately for ASU, transferring back to his home state after the program was reinstated in 2010.
The program was shut down in 2008, along with tennis and wrestling, due to budget concerns. When the team returned, and Behm joined the team, he became a leader in making sure the program was here to stay.
“Over Christmas break, if we didn’t sell enough raffle tickets, the team was gone,” Behm said. “So we’ve always had a chip on our shoulder.”
Now, with the ASU men’s team fresh off an NCAA championship and the women’s team recording a top-25 finish at the NCAAs, the program is thriving. Kharun and ASU certainly generate a lot of buzz locally. What surprised Behm, though, was the international recognition he received when he was at the Canadian Trials for Kharun’s meet.
“Oh finally, going to a different country, nobody knows who I am, no one will ask,” Behm said. “And then everyone there knew everything. It was like, okay, this is way bigger than I thought, which is a good thing.”
After a successful freshman year, Kharun said he plans to build on that while taking on a bigger role with the team, both in and out of the water.
“I take guys under my wing. Sometimes I like to show the freshmen, because some of them, like, do pretty stupid decisions sometimes,” Kharun said with a laugh. His sleeping and eating habits are also areas where he tries to help some younger athletes acclimate.
Kharun and his teammates started off their season with a bang last Friday, with a decisive 217-83 victory over UNLV. Kharun won both of his events by nearly two seconds each. The Sun Devils host an Arizona battle on Saturday, where they will compete against Grand Canyon, Arizona and Northern Arizona in Tempe.
For Kharun, with Ukrainian parents, born in Canada, and raised in the U.S., it could feasibly be hard to find an identity for one area. But what he found in Tempe, surely makes things more comfortable.
“Of course, I have my country, but now, this (ASU) is like my second country,” Kharun said.
