Kimiko Raheem won multiple Gold Medals at South Asian Games

Kimiko Raheem

Source:Dailynews

Kimiko Shihara Raheem is a former Sri Lankan national swimmer who has represented the country at several international competitions including the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. *

Kimiko was born on January 28, 1999 and was educated at Asian International School. She won multiple Gold Medals at the 2016 South Asian Games in the backstroke and freestyle events.

She won all her events while setting new records in all of them in both the Short Course Junior National Swimming Championships and at the Long Course Junior National Swimming Championships, becoming the Junior National Women’s Champion in both meets in 2011.In 2012 she was the national champion setting all records while swimming for the school.

She participated at the Bangkok Christian College 160th Anniversary Swimming Championships, winning five Gold Medals, one Silver Medal and one Bronze Medal.

Kimiko also represented Sri Lanka in the Short Course FINA World Championships held in Istanbul and was awarded the Best Emerging Sportswoman at the Sri Lanka Schools Colours Ceremony.

She was a member of the Asian International School swimming team that won the overall Women’s Championship at the 2012 Long Course National Championships, as well as at the Short Course National Championships setting new records for the school.

She won all her events in both the Long Course and Short Course Junior National Swimming Championships, setting Junior National Records in each of the events, thus becoming the Junior National Women’s champion in both meets again.

In 2013, she emerged as the Women’s Long Course national champion, winning all her events at the Long Course Nationals swimming for the school and represented Sri Lanka in the Junior World Swimming Championships held in Dubai, UAE.

Kimiko represented Sri Lanka at the World Championships held in Barcelona and competed at the National Sports Festival, winning Gold in all three events with new record times in each of them.

She represented Sri Lanka at the Commonwealth Games held in Glasgow In July 2014, reaching the semi-finals in the 100m backstroke and 50m backstroke events.

She represented Sri Lanka at the Long Course 12th FINA World Championships held in Doha, Qatar in December 2014 and was awarded the Most Outstanding Sports Woman at the Sri Lanka’s School Colours Ceremony. She participated at the 2014 Arena Grand Prix, held in Mesa, Arizona and reached the ‘B’ final in two of the events.

She won the Best Emerging Sportswoman of the year in 2015 and participated at the 16th FINA World championships held in Kazan, Russia. Kimiko is the national record holder of the 50m butterfly (Long Course), 50m backstroke (Long course and Short Course), 100m backstroke (Long course and Short Course), 200m backstroke (Long Course and Short Course), 200m individual medley (Long Course), 50m freestyle (Long Course) and 100m freestyle (Long Course) events.

In 2016, she represented Sri Lanka at the 12th South Asian Games and won Gold Medals for the country in all events, setting new South Asian Games records.