View source for Silvia Poll

{{Short description|Costa Rican swimmer (born 1970)}}
{{family name hatnote|Poll|Ahrens|lang=Spanish}} 
{{Infobox swimmer
| name = Sylvia Poll
| image= Sylvia Poll.jpg
| imagesize = 
| caption = 
| fullname = Sylvia Poll Ahrens
| nicknames = 
| nationality = Costa Rican
| strokes = [[freestyle swimming|Freestyle]], backstroke
| club = 
| collegeteam = 
| birth_date ={{birth date and age|1970|9|24}}
| birth_place = [[Managua|Managua, Nicaragua]]
| death_date =
| death_place =
| height = {{height|m=1.92|precision=0}}
| weight = {{convert|75|kg|lb|abbr=on}}
| medaltemplates=
{{MedalSport | Women's [[Swimming (sport)|swimming]]}}
{{MedalCountry | {{CRC}} }}
{{MedalCompetition|[[Costa Rica at the Olympics|Olympic Games]]}}
{{MedalSilver| [[Swimming at the 1988 Summer Olympics|1988 Seoul]] | [[Swimming at the 1988 Summer Olympics - Women's 200 metre freestyle|200 m freestyle]]}}
{{MedalCompetition|Pan Pacs}}
{{MedalBronze| [[1991 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships|1991 Edmonton]] | 100 m backstroke}}
{{MedalCompetition|Pan Am Games}}
{{MedalGold | [[Swimming at the 1991 Pan American Games|1991 Havana]] | 100 m backstroke}}
{{MedalGold | [[Swimming at the 1987 Pan American Games|1987 Indianapolis]] | 100 m freestyle}} 
{{MedalGold | [[Swimming at the 1987 Pan American Games|1987 Indianapolis]] | 200 m freestyle}} 
{{MedalGold | [[Swimming at the 1987 Pan American Games|1987 Indianapolis]] | 100 m backstroke}} 
{{MedalSilver | [[Swimming at the 1987 Pan American Games|1987 Indianapolis]] | 50 m freestyle}} 
{{MedalSilver | [[Swimming at the 1987 Pan American Games|1987 Indianapolis]] | 200 m backstroke}} 
{{MedalSilver | [[Swimming at the 1987 Pan American Games|1987 Indianapolis]] | 4x200 m freestyle}} 
{{MedalBronze | [[Swimming at the 1987 Pan American Games|1987 Indianapolis]] | 4x100 m freestyle}} 
{{MedalBronze | [[Swimming at the 1987 Pan American Games|1987 Indianapolis]] | 4x100 m medley}} 
}}

'''Sylvia Úrsula Poll Ahrens'''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/46201|title = Olympedia – Sylvia Poll}}</ref> (born September 24, 1970 in [[Managua|Managua, Nicaragua]]) is an Olympic medalist and a [[List of Costa Rican records in swimming|national record]] holding swimmer from [[Costa Rica]]. At the [[Costa Rica at the 1988 Summer Olympics|1988 Olympics]], she won Costa Rica's first Olympic medal, when she garnered the silver in the women's 200 free.<ref name="IOCdb">[https://web.archive.org/web/20200417163957/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/po/silvia-poll-1.html Silvia Poll]. sports-reference.com</ref> As of 2009, she and her younger sister [[Claudia Poll|Claudia]] are Costa Rica's only Olympic medalists.<ref name="IOCdb" /> Sylvia also swam for Costa Rica at the [[Costa Rica at the 1992 Summer Olympics|1992 Summer Olympics]].

She also won a total number of 8 medals at the [[Swimming at the 1987 Pan American Games|1987 Pan American Games]]; and 2 of her times from those Games still stand as [[List of Costa Rican records in swimming|Costa Rican Records]] in 2009 (100 free and 100 back).

Poll was born in Managua, Nicaragua. Her parents were Germans and they settled in Nicaragua where Sylvia and her younger sister Claudia were born. After the [[1972 Nicaragua earthquake]] and rising political tensions, Sylvia's parents decided to move south to Costa Rica only shortly after Claudia's birth. She, her sister Claudia, and their mother are not related to [[Marlene Ahrens]], another Olympic athlete and medalist and another Latin American-born daughter of German settlers.

Sylvia Poll is a famous backstroker and freestyle swimmer for [[Costa Rica]], who won the silver medal in the Swimming at the 1988 Summer Olympics Women's 200 meter freestyle  at the [[1988 Summer Olympics]] in [[Seoul, South Korea]]. Her silver medal was the first medal ever for a Costa Rican athlete.

At the [[1986 Central American and Caribbean Games]] she set the [[List of Central American and Caribbean Games records in swimming|Games Records]] in the women's 200 and 400 frees (2:02.80 and 4:17.98). Both records would last 20 years, until her sister Claudia bettered the times at the [[Swimming at the 2006 Central American and Caribbean Games|2006 Games]].<ref>[http://www.cartagena2006.gov.co/SP/showpage.aspx?d=NAT&n=4,1,1,3,2 Women's 200 free]{{dead link|date=May 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} and [http://www.cartagena2006.gov.co/SP/showpage.aspx?d=NAT&n=4,1,1,4,1 400 free]{{dead link|date=May 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} results from the 2006 CACs, retrieved 2009-06-21.</ref> Also at the '86 CACs, Silvia set the Games Record in the 100 m and 200 m backstroke (1:04.43, 2:19.32) that also stood until 2006.

Sylvia Poll is now a member of the ‘Champions for Peace’ club, a group of 54 famous elite athletes committed to serving peace in the world through sport, created by [[Peace and Sport]], a [[Monaco]]-based international organization.<ref>[http://www.peace-sport.org/ Peace and Sport]</ref>

==See also==
*[[List of Costa Rican records in swimming]]

==References==
{{reflist}}
*{{in lang|en}}[https://web.archive.org/web/20070219171214/http://www.databaseolympics.com/players/playerpage.htm?ilkid=POLLSIL01 www.databaseolympics.com]
*{{in lang|es}}[https://web.archive.org/web/20080405161825/http://www.clubcariari.com/natacion/sylvia_poll.htm Profile]

==External links==
{{Footer Pan American Champions 100 m Freestyle Women}}
{{Footer Pan American Champions 200 m Freestyle Women}}
{{Footer Pan American Champions 100 m Backstroke Women}}
{{Footer CAC Champions 100m Freestyle Women}}
{{Footer CAC Champions 200m Freestyle Women}}
{{Footer CAC Champions 400m Freestyle Women}}
{{Footer CAC Champions 800m Freestyle Women}}
{{Footer CAC Champions 100m Backstroke Women}}
{{Footer CAC Champions 200m Backstroke Women}}
{{Footer CAC Champions 200m Medley Women}}
{{Footer CAC Champions 400m Medley Women}}
{{Footer CAC Champions 4x100m Freestyle Women}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Poll, Sylvia}}
[[Category:1970 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Nicaraguan people of German descent]]
[[Category:Sportspeople from Managua]]
[[Category:Costa Rican people of German descent]]
[[Category:Costa Rican female backstroke swimmers]]
[[Category:Costa Rican female freestyle swimmers]]
[[Category:Swimmers at the 1988 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Swimmers at the 1992 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Swimmers at the 1987 Pan American Games]]
[[Category:Swimmers at the 1991 Pan American Games]]
[[Category:Olympic silver medalists for Costa Rica]]
[[Category:Olympic swimmers for Costa Rica]]
[[Category:Nicaraguan emigrants to Costa Rica]]
[[Category:Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Pan American Games gold medalists for Costa Rica]]
[[Category:Pan American Games silver medalists for Costa Rica]]
[[Category:Pan American Games bronze medalists for Costa Rica]]
[[Category:Olympic silver medalists in swimming]]
[[Category:Pan American Games gold medalists in swimming]]
[[Category:Pan American Games silver medalists in swimming]]
[[Category:Pan American Games bronze medalists in swimming]]
[[Category:Central American and Caribbean Games gold medalists for Costa Rica]]
[[Category:Central American and Caribbean Games medalists in swimming]]
[[Category:Competitors at the 1986 Central American and Caribbean Games]]
[[Category:Medalists at the 1987 Pan American Games]]
[[Category:Medalists at the 1991 Pan American Games]]