Olympics in sight for teen swimming star

Dubai: Sara Isakovic has seen it all. It's been just two years on the international swimming scene for the Slovenian teenager and she feels she is peaking just the right way for the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

For a 17-year-old, Isakovic's confidence is supreme and she is very focused.

Isakovic's career graph so far looks tremendous. She made a start to her swimming career right here in Dubai when she and twin brother Gal were granted express permission by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to train at the Zabeel Club.

In the past three years, she has represented her country at each and every swimming meet held worldwide, starting with the Athens Olympics in 2004. At the XIth Fina World Championships in Montreal last summer, Isakovic nearly made it to a medal.

Swimming in her pet 200 metres freestyle event, Isakovic was placed fifth, even as Frenchwoman Solenne Figues clocked a time of 1 minute, 58.60 seconds for the gold medal, while Italian Federica Pellegrini took silver with 1:58.73.

Isakovic clocked 1:59.23 just a second away from her best time of 1:58.07 posted in the semifinals.

But more recently, at the European Swimming Championships held in Budapest, Isakovic showed she was still in pursuit of her dreams. She could not better her best timings and felt there were minor factors responsible for the laxity.

First major final

For the first time in her career, Isakovic made it to the final of a major event, and was timed at 2:00.16 in the 200 metres.

"I am definitely capable of 1:58.5 and honestly, I was expecting a much better time. It was raining just before the competition and I was finding it difficult to put up with the cold," she explained.

"I just couldn't move in the last 25 metres. It was like my body just shut down," she explained.

Two high-altitude training camps with the national squad in February and June helped instil loads of confidence in Isakovic for the European meet. Though she was eventually a bit disappointed with her timings, she takes it all as part of a learning curve.

"It's unrealistic to set time limits for competitions. My preparation was good, but something went wrong and I could not better my timings," she laments.

Despite the setback, Isakovic feels she is still firmly on course for future glory. "I have reserves at my disposal," she states.

"Finishing in the top eight was a goal for me this time and I am happy to have achieved this. I would have been worried if I had not reached the semifinals," she adds.

One year on, and Isakovic has suddenly started feeling the pressure all over again. For sure, she has more experience and the level of expectations has also gone sky-high.

'No pressure'

"There was no pressure on me last year. But this year, I think the pressure was a lot more as people were expecting me to be among the best," she states.

But she also knows she is bound for the right destination. She has a few more ambitions lined up. "Sportspersons are very ambitious, and normally, we set goals which we can achieve," she says.

Such a positive attitude has helped the Slovenian move towards her goals.

"It's very important to keep thinking positive all the time. One cannot always remain uptight … one has to know how to relax. And that's precisely what I am doing at the moment … concentrating on the big events and learning how to have fun in the water," she smiles.