Yana Clochkova

Yana Klochkova is a wonderful Ukrainian swimmer. In 2004 she was named the World Female Swimmer of the Year by Swimming World magazine. She was also awarded the Hero of Ukraine medal.

This is our national pride (from Internet)

Yana Klochkova has won 5 Olympic medals in her career: 2 gold and 1 silver at the Olympic Games in Sydney (2000) and 2 gold at the Summer Olympics in Athens (2004). In 2003 she won 4 medals at the Summer Universiade in South Korea. She has also won 10 world championships and 19 European championships. At the Olympic Games in Sydney in 2000 the Goldfish of Ukraine set a world record in the 400 metre medley and a European record in the 200 metre medley.

To achieve such brilliant results the famous swimmer worked very hard. She spent 6 hours a day training: swimming, weighlifting and running. As she once calculated, on average every month she swam a distance of 330 km. It's like swimming across the Black Sea from the Crimea to Turkey!

But Yana doesn't just swim. Her first sport was gymnastics, then she did synchronized swimming. She plays tennis and basketball and she is fond of dancing and watching football. She also teaches young children to swim.

Now there is a swimming pool of Yana Klochkova where kids are training. For all these reasons, Yana Kochkova is my hero.