Schoolgirl makes the team for Delhi
The Age
Thursday March 18, 2010
WHEN you are only 14, aren't you supposed doing things like playing computer games, rapid-fire texting your friends, and working out ways to get out of doing your homework? She may like doing all those things, too, but as of last night, Yolane Kukla is no longer your average 14-year-old.She has been touted as a future star for some time, but the future arrived last night when the Brisbane schoolgirl officially became the next big thing in Australian swimming, booking a ticket to the Commonwealth Games in Delhi by winning the women's 50 metres butterfly at Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre, and defeating the world champion in the process.Kukla won in 25.92 seconds from Marieke Guehrer (26.28).Kukla is the youngest girl picked on a senior Australian swim team since 13-year-old Jodie Clatworthy won selection on the 1986 Edinburgh Commonwealth Games team, and is just less than a week older than Ian Thorpe was when he was selected as a 14-year-old for the 1997 Fukuoka Pan Pacs team.Before she was a swimmer, Kukla was a gymnast for five years, but a bad knee injury ended her gymnastic career.The youngster not only swims the same events as the recently retired Libby Trickett €” she will contest the 100 freestyle final tonight €” but, said her coach Michael Palfery, Kukla also looks up to Trickett, "and speaks to her a little bit here and there".Leisel Jones, who was only 14 when she made the Olympic team in 2000, last night won her 20th national title when she won the 50 breaststroke final.In the men's 50 backstroke, Beijing medallist Hayden Stoeckel won in 25.06, while Geoff Huegill's made tonight's final of the 50 butterfly.
© 2010 The Age
