PARIS – The tears of anguish at losing gold on Thursday changed to tears of joy and relief on Friday at winning bronze. Iga Swiatek walked a path of different emotions and capped her Olympic adventure with a spot on the podium: “If I didn’t win bronze I would have cried for a whole week.”
After losing in the semi-finals to China’s Qinwen Zheng, her spirits collapsed. She did not shake hands with the chair umpire, and then in front of the television cameras in the media corridor she walked out of an interview and burst into tears in facing the wall. Afterwards, she passed silently in front of the written press who were waiting for her in the mixed zone, very upset and devastated.
“I’ve never felt like this before. Yesterday I experienced one of the hardest defeats of my career,” she admitted.
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She missed a great opportunity to win the Olympic title in the stadium where she won four of her five Grand Slams and where she had not lost a match since 2021. The world number one was holding a 25-match winning streak on the courts of Roland Garros.
But consolation came after a crushing 6-2, 6-1 win over Slovakia’s Anna Karolina Schmiedlová. She won a prize she cherished, especially considering her Olympic heritage: her father represented Poland in rowing at Seoul 1998 and the Olympic spirit was part of her upbringing.
“I cried for six hours yesterday, if I hadn’t won (the bronze) I would have cried for a week. Being number one makes me feel I can handle everything, but this tournament showed me that’s not the case. This motivates me to work harder,” she confessed.
A talk with her psychologist the afternoon after her tragedy was key to releasing all the pent-up emotions. “I realised that I had put on a very heavy backpack. The thought that I was playing for so many people added pressure that prevented me from playing my best tennis. I thought I had to play for myself and that’s how I faced the bronze match in a better way,” she revealed.
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Another figure who helps him is Carlos Alcaraz. “I see Carlos enjoying himself and smiling on the court and that helps me a lot”.
With the bronze medal in Paris 2024, the Pole added more decorum to a spectacular carrer: four Roland Garros, one US Open, one WTA Finals and ten 1000 titles, as well as more than 100 weeks at the top of the rankings.
She will stay for the rest of the Olympics, while continuing to deal with the negative emotions of losing the gold medal, tempered by a darker, more orangey metal.
