Sara Kamil-Yusof
Sara Kamil-Yusof(born December 18,1984 in Petaling Jaya,Selangor) is a Malaysian synchronized swimmer.Sara started synchronized swimming at the age of 12 in early 1997.A few months later,her coach retired and that was the end for Sara.But later that year,she received an offer by a swimming official(who had introduced Sara to synchronized swimming)to join several other girls for a training stint for a few months in Canada for an upcoming national competition.By mid 1998,she joined the synchronized swimming National Team of Malaysia.Her first competition where she represented Malaysia was at the World Youth Games in Moscow,Russia in the team & figures category.She later participated in a duet category as a demonstrator for synchronized swimming at the 1998 Commonwealth Games held in Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia.In 2000,she participated in the Olympic Qualyfication Tournament held in Sydney,Australia in the duet category which she placed 31 and did not qualify for the Olympics.She also participated in her first ever FINA World Championships held in Fukuoka,Japan in the duet category where she placed 23 with a score of 75.931.Mid 2002,saw her first ever real participation in the Commonwealth Games held in Machester,England.It was thought,that Sara's participation in the duet category was that she was very likely to get the third place,winning the bronze medal given that Sara has spent months in Vancouver,Canada training with one of Canada's seven national coaches and that they were sure of who would get first and second place and she knew Australia was her only competition to get that third placing.Her technical and free duet routines were tougher,better chreographed and executed than the Australian routines,but much to everyone's suprise(audience,fellow competitors,commentators and family members),the Australian' duet routines gained higher marks from the judges than Sara's.Thus,not winning a medal and a top 3 placing in the Commonwealth Games.She placed fourth with a total score of 80.500,her best ever scoring up to that time.In 2003,Sara participated in her second FINA World Championships.Much to her and her families' suprise,she gained low placings again.For her duet technical,30 and her duet free routine/overall at 26 out of 34 participants.Her best finish/scoring in her third Sukma Games(Malaysian National Games)in Paroi,Negeri Sembilan was a first place in the team and duet events.She scored marks ranging from 7's and 8's for the team event and an all 8's marks for her duet event which is the first time she has ever done so with a total score for her duet event of 84.000,the highest she has ever scored in a competition.
|
|
