PINAR SAKA
Pinar Saka was accustomed to a big stage. A two-time national champion sprinter for the UNO track and field team, Saka was an eight-time All-American for the Mavericks, helping them to conference championships and top-five finishes in NCAA Championships. She also ran in European Championships and World Championships. But she performed on the biggest athletics stage of all in 2012 when she competed for her native Turkey at the Olympic Summer Games in London. And she made history doing so. Saka, a native of Istanbul, became the first woman from Turkey to compete in the 400 meters in the Olympics. She ran a time of 52.38, finishing 25th overall in a field where the top 24 advanced. Saka, who set the UNO indoor and outdoor 400 meters record in 2009 when she was named the nation’s track athlete of the year, also ran the lead leg of Turkey’s 4x400 meter relay, posting the fastest split among her teammates. Turkey finished last among the 16 teams in the preliminaries, but Saka’s Olympics experience was good as gold. “The people’s cheers, especially in the first 100 meters, made me feel like these people came there only for me,” she said. She had the stage to herself.