Jana Kolukanova (born August 4, 1981) is a retired Estonian swimmer, who specialized in sprint freestyle events. She is a two-time Olympian, multiple-times champion of Estonia and one of the top European sprinters of her generation. Kolukanova made her Olympic debut as a 19-year-old at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

where she competed in the women's 50 m freestyle. She reached the semifinals by winning the swim-off against European champion

Mette Jacobsen Mette Jacobsen (born 24 March 1973 in Nakskov) is a former freestyle and butterfly swimmer from Denmark who competed in five consecutive Summer Olympics for her native country, beginning in 1988. She won a total of 32 individual medals in int ...

of Denmark and

Ana Belén Palomo Ana Belén Palomo Jiménez (born 20 October 1977) is a freestyle swimmer from Spain, who competed for her native country at two consecutive Summer Olympics, starting in 2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests agai ...

of Spain. She set a new Estonian record in two consecutive swims, first in the prelims (25.96) and then in the three-person swim-off a few hours later. Followed by an evening session, Kolukanova finished her semifinal run with a time of 26.03, just seven hundredths of a second (0.07) outside her record. After her performances in Sydney, Kolukanova was heavily recruited by U.S. universities and decided to attend

Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a public land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama. With more than 24,600 undergraduate students and a total enrollment of more than 30,000 with 1,330 faculty members, Auburn is the second largest uni ...

in Auburn, Alabama to swim for

Auburn Tigers The Auburn Tigers are the athletic teams representing Auburn University, a public four-year coeducational university located in Auburn, Alabama, United States. The Auburn Tigers compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Associa ...

under head coach David Marsh. She studied psychology and graduated as a 19-time All-American, All-SEC selection, SEC Academic Honor Roll member as well as an Academic All-American. She also won 3 NCAA team championships while at Auburn. Kolukanova qualified for the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

by clearing a FINA standard entry time of 56.10 at the

European Championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...

in Madrid, Spain. She competed in the women's 100 m freestyle and challenged seven other swimmers in heat four, including her college teammate

Eileen Coparropa Eileen Mary Coparropa Alemán (born March 31, 1981 in Panama City) is a freestyle swimmer from Panama, who won a silver and a bronze medal in the women's 50m freestyle event at the Pan American Games. Nicknamed "La Sirena de Oro" she represented ...

of Panama. She finished three tenths of a second (0.30) behind Israel's

Anna Gostomelsky Anna Gostomelsky (; , he, אניה גוסטומלסקי; born 9 June 1981) is an Israeli swimmer who represented Israel at the 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympics. Biography Gostomelsky was born to a Jewish family in Kiev, Soviet Union (now Ukraine). ...

in 57.45 and did not advance into the semifinals. At the 2005 FINA World Championships in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Kolukanova placed 8th in the

50 m freestyle 5 (five) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number, and cardinal number, following 4 and preceding 6, and is a prime number. It has attained significance throughout history in part because typical humans have five digits on eac ...

(25.56), and 14th in the

100 m freestyle The 100 metre freestyle is often considered to be the highlight (Blue Ribbon event) of the sport of swimming, like 100 metres in the sport of Athletics. The first swimmer to break the one-minute barrier (long course) was Johnny Weissmuller, in 1 ...

(55.81, a new Estonian record). Earlier in the semifinals, she posted a time of 25.26 to reach the final in the 50 m freestyle, adding another Estonian record to her long list of accomplishments. Kolukanova qualified for the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

, but did not compete due to injury. Kolukanova was a regular participant on the FINA Swimming World Cup circuit throughout her career.

References

External links

* * * * *
Player Bio – Auburn Tigers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kolukanova, Jana 1981 births Living people Estonian female freestyle swimmers Olympic swimmers for Estonia Swimmers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Swimmers from Tallinn Auburn Tigers women's swimmers Estonian expatriate swimmers in the United States Estonian people of Russian descent

See also

References

External links