The Ripper
02-09-2011, 12:52 PM
American-Finnish athlete smashes national record and wants to represent Finland at World Swimming Championships
By Arno Seiro
When she arrived in Finland, swimmer Tanja Kylliäinen brought her good form as a present from America.
At the short-track Finnish Championships the weekend before last, the 18-year-old swimmer with dual nationality won the 400 metre freestyle swimming race in some style, smashing Emilia Pikkarainen’s national record by more than four seconds.
Kylliäinen’s next major target will be to participate in the World Swimming Championships in Shanghai in July as one of Finland’s hopes for the future.
Now Kylliäinen is being interviewed like any other ordinary young Finnish woman.
However, her story is not among the most common ones.
Kylliäinen’s father is a Finn, while her mother is American.
She has lived all her life in Baltimore, Maryland, on the eastern seaboard of the United States.
”I always intend to represent Finland, as I have already received so much support here. It would be mean to change countries”, Kylliäinen says in plain American English.
Her Finnish vocabulary thus far contains only a few dozen words.
”However, I have spent a few weeks in Finland every summer”, Kylliäinen notes.
In America, she has recently completed her matriculation examination.
”Next autumn I will start college studies on a scholarship”, she says.
Kylliäinen represented Finland for the first time at the European Youth Olympics Festival in Serbia in 2007.
”In the previous year, I had won five medals in the Finnish Age Group Swimming Championships”, Kylliäinen reports.
Last December, Kylliäinen won three gold medals in the United States Swimming Youth Championships.
In one of the events, she achieved the fastest time ever in the championships. No doubt about it, she is a catch for Finnish swimming.
At present, Kylliäinen’s best individual event is the 400-metre freestyle.
In the latest long-track World Championships in Rome in 2009, a time of 4:37 was good enough to qualify for the final.
However, the athletes then had rubber swimsuits, now banned.
Kylliäinen's personal best at the distance is 12 seconds slower.
A semi-final place will be a realistic target for Kylliäinen this coming summer.
Speaking in favour of this is the fact that the Fédération Internationale de Natation (FINA) has set an A-limit of 4:45 for the 400m free at the world championships.
In fact, the limit is set so that it should be sufficient for positions from 12 to 16, granting access to the semi-final stages.
Getting into the top 16 would of itself be a fine achievement in Finnish swimming.
While many promising young swimmers are following Hanna-Maria Seppälä and her achievements, a place in the final still sounds too challenging for most.
”I cannot say anything certain about the London Olympics in 2012, but maybe something like 4:37 could already then be possible”, Kylliäinen says.
Sports Director Ippe Natunen of the Finnish Swimming Association says that Kylliäinen’s starts, turns, and underwater work all meet the international standards.
”We have been observing her development with interest already for many years”, Natunen notes.
For the next three months, Kylliäinen will be training in Raisio in Southwestern Finland, where she has had an opportunity to get acquainted with Finnish swimming.
”I know very little of the practices of Finnish swimming associations, but in America someone is easily thrown out of the team if he or she does not work in earnest. In addition, they pay more attention to the use of your feet in the water”, Kylliäinen compares.
Next summer, Kylliäinen will participate in the World Swimming Championships in Shanghai.
Will she go there in order to do her best and see where she ends up?
”No, I am not going there just to swim and see what happens, but I intend to succeed extremely well, when I represent Finland”, Kylliäinen promises.
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 4.2.2011
HS - International Edition (http://www.hs.fi/english/article/She+doesnt+speak+much+Finnish+but+Tanja+Kylli%C3%A 4inen+is+one+of+Finland%E2%80%99s+future+hopes+in+ swimming/1135263653015)
I wonder, can she pronounce her surname correctly? :D
By Arno Seiro
When she arrived in Finland, swimmer Tanja Kylliäinen brought her good form as a present from America.
At the short-track Finnish Championships the weekend before last, the 18-year-old swimmer with dual nationality won the 400 metre freestyle swimming race in some style, smashing Emilia Pikkarainen’s national record by more than four seconds.
Kylliäinen’s next major target will be to participate in the World Swimming Championships in Shanghai in July as one of Finland’s hopes for the future.
Now Kylliäinen is being interviewed like any other ordinary young Finnish woman.
However, her story is not among the most common ones.
Kylliäinen’s father is a Finn, while her mother is American.
She has lived all her life in Baltimore, Maryland, on the eastern seaboard of the United States.
”I always intend to represent Finland, as I have already received so much support here. It would be mean to change countries”, Kylliäinen says in plain American English.
Her Finnish vocabulary thus far contains only a few dozen words.
”However, I have spent a few weeks in Finland every summer”, Kylliäinen notes.
In America, she has recently completed her matriculation examination.
”Next autumn I will start college studies on a scholarship”, she says.
Kylliäinen represented Finland for the first time at the European Youth Olympics Festival in Serbia in 2007.
”In the previous year, I had won five medals in the Finnish Age Group Swimming Championships”, Kylliäinen reports.
Last December, Kylliäinen won three gold medals in the United States Swimming Youth Championships.
In one of the events, she achieved the fastest time ever in the championships. No doubt about it, she is a catch for Finnish swimming.
At present, Kylliäinen’s best individual event is the 400-metre freestyle.
In the latest long-track World Championships in Rome in 2009, a time of 4:37 was good enough to qualify for the final.
However, the athletes then had rubber swimsuits, now banned.
Kylliäinen's personal best at the distance is 12 seconds slower.
A semi-final place will be a realistic target for Kylliäinen this coming summer.
Speaking in favour of this is the fact that the Fédération Internationale de Natation (FINA) has set an A-limit of 4:45 for the 400m free at the world championships.
In fact, the limit is set so that it should be sufficient for positions from 12 to 16, granting access to the semi-final stages.
Getting into the top 16 would of itself be a fine achievement in Finnish swimming.
While many promising young swimmers are following Hanna-Maria Seppälä and her achievements, a place in the final still sounds too challenging for most.
”I cannot say anything certain about the London Olympics in 2012, but maybe something like 4:37 could already then be possible”, Kylliäinen says.
Sports Director Ippe Natunen of the Finnish Swimming Association says that Kylliäinen’s starts, turns, and underwater work all meet the international standards.
”We have been observing her development with interest already for many years”, Natunen notes.
For the next three months, Kylliäinen will be training in Raisio in Southwestern Finland, where she has had an opportunity to get acquainted with Finnish swimming.
”I know very little of the practices of Finnish swimming associations, but in America someone is easily thrown out of the team if he or she does not work in earnest. In addition, they pay more attention to the use of your feet in the water”, Kylliäinen compares.
Next summer, Kylliäinen will participate in the World Swimming Championships in Shanghai.
Will she go there in order to do her best and see where she ends up?
”No, I am not going there just to swim and see what happens, but I intend to succeed extremely well, when I represent Finland”, Kylliäinen promises.
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 4.2.2011
HS - International Edition (http://www.hs.fi/english/article/She+doesnt+speak+much+Finnish+but+Tanja+Kylli%C3%A 4inen+is+one+of+Finland%E2%80%99s+future+hopes+in+ swimming/1135263653015)
I wonder, can she pronounce her surname correctly? :D