Mariya Bugakova ( uz, Мария Бугакова; born July 6, 1985) is an Uzbekistani former swimmer, who specialized in butterfly and sprint freestyle events. She represented

Uzbekistan Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked cou ...

at three editions of the Olympic Games (2000, 2004, and 2008). She is also the elder sister of backstroke swimmer and two-time Olympian Danil Bugakov. Bugakova is a law school graduate at the

Tashkent State University of Economics The Tashkent State University of Economics ( uz, Toshkent Davlat Iqtisodiyot Universiteti , Тошкент Давлат Иқтисодиёт Университети) is one of the largest higher education establishments in the sphere of economi ...

. Bugakova started her swimming career at the very young age, and came from a sporting family, in which her parents were both trained in the pool as "working reserves" (''Trudovie rezervi''). At the age of fourteen, she first competed at the Asian Age Group Championships in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

, where she became a junior champion in the butterfly category. A year later, Bugakova made her Olympic debut, as one of

's youngest swimmers, 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 ...

. Bugakova competed in the 100 m butterfly, where she finished last in the second heat, and forty-eight overall by six tenths of a second (0.60) behind Zambia's

Ellen Lendra Hight Ellen Lendra Hight (born February 13, 1981) is a Zambian swimmer, who specialized in freestyle and butterfly events. She represented her nation Zambia in two editions of the Olympic Games (2000 and 2008). Hight made her first Zambian team debut, ...

, with a time of 1:09.94. At 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), ...

, Bugakova edged out Saint Lucia's Natasha Sara Georgeos by less than 0.14 of a second in heat two of the 100 m butterfly, lowering her time to 1:07.08. At 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 ...

, Bugakova decided to drop her specialty event, the 100 m butterfly, and experiment with the 50 m freestyle. She achieved a FINA B-standard of 26.29 from the Russian Swimming Championships in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

. She challenged seven other swimmers in heat seven, including fellow three-time Olympian Marina Mulyayeva of Kazakhstan. Bugakova rounded out the field to last place by three seconds behind Croatia's Monika Babok with a time of 29.73 seconds. Bugakova failed to advance into the semifinals, as she placed sixty-eighth out of 92 swimmers in the preliminary heats.

References

External links

NBC Olympics Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bugakova, Mariya 1985 births Living people Uzbekistani people of Russian descent Uzbekistani female butterfly swimmers Olympic swimmers of Uzbekistan Swimmers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2006 Asian Games Uzbekistani female freestyle swimmers Sportspeople from Tashkent Asian Games competitors for Uzbekistan 21st-century Uzbekistani people