Mit - Index

Mit - UVK_Sinfo_2008_04April_1 - Index

P E o P L E
wORk, PERSISTENCE AND TALENT MAkE
DREAMS COME TRuE
Her crazy schedule dictated an extremely organised life (the
children sometimes slept in a car and often also studied there,
since their indefatigable mother drove them at least 300
kilometres every day) for the entire family, which was disturbed
only by her brother Gal when he skipped a few swimming
trainings during puberty. A time of rest, idleness, sitting at a
computer or lying in front of the TV and hanging out with her
friends has not arrived yet. Sara’s wish and will to follow her
heart and pursue her goals have remained strong, even though
it was not always easy (“I used to cry from exhaustion.”). But her
work has paid off. After winning European Youth titles she has
been at the forefront of the Slovenian team. Already in 2005,
she went to the final of the World Championship in Montreal,
and she repeated her success last year in Melbourne. She was a
finalist at the last European Championship in Budapest and also
won medals at the Mediterranean Games and Universiade. “I
made my dreams come true. I would not dare to foretell this kind
of success even in my dreams. But I still enjoy it. I surprised even
myself,”, explained Sara, who was modest as always before the
competition. “My opponents had the same opportunity as I did
and it was impossible to foretell the winner in this competition
with 100 per cent certainty. It is different with personal wishes,
of course. In this way, there is still a little bit of surprise for all of
us.” This is what Sara IsakoviË thinks about her achievements this
season, during which she dedicated herself only to swimming.
Sara has achieved her greatest success so far: a gold medal in the
200m freestyle, two finals qualifications, words of congratulation
from the President of the Republic of Slovenia, Danilo Türk, and
from her father, who stood by her daughter at the European
Championship as well (“Dad comes to every part of the world
just to be able to cheer for me. His support really means a lot to
me.”) Her brother Gal, who studies in Denmark, and her mother,
who standing by her during Sara’s preparations for the Olympic
Games in China were thrilled with the victory as well.
OLYMPICS? wE wISh YOu ALL ThE bEST
There is no doubt that Sara IsakoviË will do her best at the
Olympics in Peking. This year, when she took time only for
swimming, is paying off wonderfully. She decided to start her
studies at Berkeley (a brilliant high school student, she is going
to study sports management or foreign languages), for which
she received a scholarship of 50,000 dollars, one year later.
Devoting all her tim to training (“Now I have more time to rest,
which is really important after hard trainings”) has more than
paid off. And the time during which she will devote herself to
top professional swimming training (during training, she spends
more than five hours a day in water) and preparations for the
Olympics in Peking will bring changes as well: her cooperation
with one of the best Slovenian coaches, Miha PotoËnik, will come
to an end. After she won the gold medal, her status changed:
for the first time, the former European Youth Champion won
first place in the membership competition as well. But Sara,
who participated in the Olympics four years ago as a twotime
European Youth Champion and won 18th place, remains
reserved aboit predicting Olympic results: “My goal is to
qualify for the final and achieve the best possible result. In the
final, we will then see how and what will happen. Just like all
sportspersons I, too, dream about winning the Olympic Medal.”
How does it feel to be a European Champion? Her answer is
modest, as expected. “It is hard to describe. This title pays
sinfo april 08 28
for all the effort you invest during the course of your career.”
A top sportswoman, a swimmer and a European Champion in
the 200m freestyle who beat all her opponents, is one of the few
sportspersons who, despite being successful and well-known,
remains natural and simple. And that makes her all the more
ours.
To win the European gold medal, Sara IsakoviË had
to beat the first favourite and the winner of several
medals in this discipline, Josefin Lillhage, from Sweden,
as well as the Olympic Champion, Camelia Potec from
Romania and the rest of the competitors. For the first
time since 1981 and swimmer Borut PetriË, Slovenia has
a European Swimming Champion in a traditional 50m
swimming pool.
”In the 200m freestyle and 200m dolphin crawl, I rank
among the world’s top and I can further improve in
both disciplines. I have already swum the crawl here in a
very good time and I will try to swim in this discipline a
bit faster in the Olympic Games. Considering my current
record, I think that I could swim in the dolphin crawl at
least one second and a half faster, and I would have higher
chances for a noticeable qualification, considering the
competitors. I will persist in both disciplines, of course.”
“After the 200m freestyle, I recovered my breath. I could
not have wished for a better end to the championship.
There were two finals behind me (100m freestyle and 100m
dolphin crawl) and I was really proud of myself because I’d
made it to the eight top short-course swimmers in Europe.
I was happy about the new national records as well.”