Proud Pakistanis: Kiran Khan

Kiran khan is an Olympian Swimmer and national-record-holder from Pakistan and is one of the first International female swimmers for the country. She firstly appeared in Pakistan National Games in 2001 in which she won 7 gold, 3 silver and 3 bronze medals. The performance garners her title "Golden Girl".


Kiran Khan, born on December 21 1989 in Lahore, Pakistan. Her Father, Khalid Zaman, is a Former International Swimmer of Pakistan. Kiran began Swimming at the age of three, turning professional in 2001. She was trained by her father.

Winning every single Event Pakistan's top professional Swimmer she was ranked highest in 2001 as the Best Sports Girl. The Golden Girl was the first female swimmer to grab the most medals in 3rd World Islamic Games, Tehran Iran, where she garbed as many as 13 medals for Pakistan, 2 gold, 6 silver, 5 bronze.

In 2002 Kiran represented Pakistan in 17th Common wealth games in Manchester, United Kingdom, where Kiran was the youngest player in the Games and soon after her event 50m back stroke heat which Kiran won, she was titled “Water Baby” by the Queen and the British Media.

Each time she jumped in the pool their was either a medal or a record for Pakistan her performance never let Pakistan down. In 2003 the Water Baby represented Pakistan in 10^th World Fina Swimming Championship held in Barcelona, Spain. She broke one National record of 200m Individual medley.

Kiran represented Pakistan in the 9th South Asian Games held In Islamabad Pakistan. Where Kiran garbed 8 medals 6 silver & 2 bronze for Pakistan. 29th National Games held in Islamabad, She Won 12 gold Medals and made 3 New National records and declared the “Best Player of New Millennium”.

4th World Islamic Games held in Iran , where she won 3 golds, 4 silver, 2 bronze and made 5 New National records. ‘A total of 18 medals were won by the Pakistan contingent in 18 Disciplines Out of these 18 medals 9 medal belong to Kiran khan.

10th SAF Games held in Colombo, Srilanka. Our Golden Girl won 3 silver and 5 bronze Broke 4 National records and also broke the SAF record in 100m Back stroke. She was declared the Best Player of the Games in 30th National Games held in Karachi where she won 13 Gold Medals.

29th Olympic Games held in Beijing, China. She improved the time by 30.95 to 29.84 and ranked 45th out of 198. 12th World Fina Swimming Championship held in Melbourne, Australia. She came 1st the 50m butterfly heat.

Despite of these achievements she was awarded by many National and International Awards, which includes:

• Fatima Jinnah Youth Icon Award 2008
• Benazir Women Excellence Awards For The Best Women Of The Year 2009.
• Laural of Excellence Award 2010
• Winner of SAWM International Award 2008 for the Highest achiever in South Asian Women Media.
• 19 Best Female Swimmer Awards
• Only female Swimmer to win a medal for Pakistan in South Asian Swimming Championship.
• Only female to win Gold for Pakistan in the World Islamic Games 2001 and in 2005.
• Won 47 International medals for Pakistan
• Won 280 National medals (274 gold)

As of May 2011, Kiran holds 12 Pakistan Records. These include:

• women's 200 freestyle: 2:18.67
• women's 400 freestyle: 4:54.56
• women's 50 backstroke: 32.25
• women's 100 backstroke: 1:09.76
• women's 200 backstroke: 2:40.34
• women's 50 butterfly: 30.35
• women's 100 butterfly: 1:11.39
• women's 200 butterfly: 2:44.50
• women's 200 Individual Medley: 2:38.37
• women's 400 Individual Medley: 5:44.02