Yana Klochkova: Training for Gold
Yana Klochkova, the world's most dominant female individual medley swimmer, is intent on defending her Olympic titles in both IMs at Athens this summer.
By Helen Chervitz
For the past five years, Ukrainian Yana Klochkova, now 21, has been the world's most dominant female individual medley swimmer, the female equivalent of the USA's Michael Phelps, only she's been at the top longer.
Occasionally, Klochkova has lost a 200 meter IM race, though most often she wins the biggest races. But in the 400 meter IM, the sport's most grueling test of versatility, strength, endurance and strategic thinking, she has been nearly invincible.
Double Olympic champion in Sydney four years ago, double gold medalist last July at the FINA World Championships in Barcelona, Klochkova is focused like a laser beam on repeating her twin triumphs in Athens come August. The world record holder in the longer medley and the de facto record holder at the sprint distance (China's Wu Yanyan holds the official world record), she plans on putting up times that will stand for years to come.
Klochkova has also branched out to the distance freestyle at major events, winning silver in Sydney in the 800 meters (8:22.66) and gold in several major meets in the 400 meter free.
Just how dominant has Klochkova been? Since 1999, she has won:
- Olympic Games (2 gold, 1 silver)
- World Championships (4 gold, 2 silver)
- SC World Championships (9 gold, 2 silver)
- European Championships (9 gold, 1 silver)
- TOTAL: 24 gold, 6 silver
She has also won several fistfuls of gold at the European Short Course Championships, World University Games (four gold in 2003) and the World Cup, as well as at other major international competitions.
For these achievements, Klochkova has thrice been named Ukraine's Athlete of the Year, most recently in 2003. Notably, she has achieved her unprecedented success despite being underpaid, even by Ukrainian standards, and despite having to contend with