Kiran Khan

One of the first international female Olympic swimmers for Pakistan, Kiran Khan was born on 21 December, 1989 in Lahore.  She first came to national attention at the 28th Pakistan National Games in 2001, where she won 7 gold medals, 3 silver medals and 3 bronze medals.

She has represented Pakistan on many international forums namely Asian games at very young age. Kiran Khan won six silver and two bronze medals in Islamabad 2004 and another two silver and six Bronze in Colombo in 2006. After this performance she was named Golden Girl. She has swum for the Pakistani team in the Asian Games as well as the Commonwealth Games, in addition to several other international swimming meets including the 2008 Summer Olympics.

For Kiran Khan, the failure to qualify for the 2012 London Olympics has not stopped her from striving to prove her doubters wrong. Setting a national record by winning 15 gold medals at the swimming championships of the on-going National Games in Islamabad was a battle for the swimmer to prove she is amongst the great athletes Pakistan has produced.

The Lahore-based swimmer’s tally breaking her own previous best of 13 gold medals at the Games was just her way of showcasing her skills. Despite her consistent performances in the pool, the Pakistan Swimming Federation has somehow always managed to snub her when it comes to international events. However, her record-breaking feat has given her more confidence in her skills.

She is excited that all her hard work paid off. There was also a time when she couldn’t even achieve her personal best timing, but she still trained. When she was in the US for her studies, she swam for herself, improved on her own, and bounced back.

She made a comeback and created history by winning 15 gold medals, which is another national record. However, she does feel that the participation in international events is the key. She managed to break the national record in the 50-metre freestyle event with a time of 28.98 seconds, breaking Rubab Raza’s previous mark of 29.01 seconds.

This was her fifth participation in the National Games. She began her career in 2001 and she has broken all the records. Even today, she knows new swimmers are coming and they are very fresh, ready and fast, but her competition is against the time.

She is not competing against any other swimmer, when she is in the pool, she is against the clock. She just has to beat the time and that is her motivation. She knows she have to push herself and beat her own personal best time. This time around at the National Games too, I just wanted to prove that I can still win gold medals and break records.

Despite her regular training in the pool, her latest disappointment has been another snub from the PSF is when the national swimming body sent another swimmer to the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Incheon, South Korea.

She is an excellent short course swimmer and she could have done really well in Korea. It does affect her that she cannot participate in the international FINA (International Swimming Federation) events without the approval from the Pakistan Olympic Association or Pakistan Sports Board.

However, she is optimistic that her hard work will be noticed. She really wants to compete at the South Asian Games, because competing against the Indians is always exciting. Secondly, she really needs to participate in this competition just to gauge her own skill and how much she needs to improve. She hopes that PSF will send her to the SAG. She believes that she can win gold medals against Indian swimmers too.

Kiran Khan was awarded Tamgha-e-lmtiaz in 2012.