Aliona Svetlichnaya has become the new head coach of the Belarusian National Synchronized swimming team. She is replacing in this position Natalia Sakharuk, who resigned at the end of 2018.

Svetlichnaya was born in Minsk, Belarus, in 1981. Her sports career was at its peak at the end of the 1990s and beginning of the 2000s, and she was a regular member of the junior and senior national teams. After retirement in 2004, she started working as a coach and took part in international competitions as a judge. She also served as Sakharuk’s assistant, and was coaching and responsible for the junior national team as well. In 2017, Svetlichnaya was elected to head the Belarusian Synchronized Swimming Federation.

Sakharuk was working with the main senior team since 2009. She managed to create a competitive squad that participated in numerous finals of major international events such as the world and European Championships. Most recently, the Belarusians finished fifth in combo, seventh in technical and free team, and ninth in technical and free duet at the 2018 European Championships in Glasgow. The team also took medals and prizes in the FINA artistic swimming world series.

Article by Vlada Sorokina.