Irish swimmer wins gold

She was born into an athletic minded family in , in Simferopol, Ukraine, when it was the capital of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea within the old Soviet Union. This little girl picked the swimming pool to excel. She first started in gymnastics, but once she started swimming at age seven, she never looked back. By age eight, she was training four hours daily with an hour a day of dry-land.

Her hard work paid off as Yana Klochkova became the greatest individual medley swimmer in the first decade of the 21st century and maybe of all-time. At the Sydney Olympics, she won gold medals in the meter and the meter individual medley, the latter in world record time, lasting seven years.

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She also won the silver medal in the meter freestyle behind Hall of Fame swimmer Brooke Bennet of the United States. Between and , she lost only one individual medley race at the short course European Championships in Antwerp, At the Olympic Games in Beijing, she was the flag bearer for her country. With her successive Olympic wins, she will always be remembered as the greatest individual medley swimmer in the history of the Olympic Games.

Search Close this search box. Yana Klochkova. Country: UKR. Honoree Type: Swimmer. The information on this page was written the year of their induction. Join Donate Join Donate.