Iga Świątek (1. IN THIS) finished the competition at the Olympic Games in Paris with a bronze medal. In the decisive match Shelf won 6:2, 6:1 against the Slovak Anna Karolina Schmiedlova (70th WTA). The day before, Iga experienced a real disappointment when she lost 2:6, 5:7 in the semi-final clash with the Chinese Qinwen Zheng (7th WTA). – If I hadn't played today, I would probably have cried for a week. And I cried for six hours. It was very hard. It was one of the most difficult moments in my career – said Świątek during a meeting with journalists on Friday.
– The tension that I was under all week makes this medal even more special. Honestly, I've never felt anything like this. Not even in a Grand Slam. It wasn't easy. Winning a medal is a dream come true, but most of all I'm proud of myself that after what happened yesterday, I went out and played my tennis. It was one of the most difficult moments in my career – Świątek added during the aforementioned conference.
It is also certain that Świątek will not play in the upcoming tournament WTA 1000 in Toronto (August 6-12). “Due to the intensive schedule with this year's Olympic Games and changing surfaces, I need more time to rest and recover,” the ranking leader said in a statement to the organizers.
Olympic silver medalist Świątek responded. “Big applause”
Świątek decided to post a short entry on social media, summarizing her performance at the Olympic Games. “I will leave it with the fact that although I did not fulfill my biggest dream, I did everything I could to play at the Games. To the best of my ability, on my own terms. Thank you for your support and understanding regardless of expectations. I will return to the Games wiser,” Świątek wrote on the X portal.
Surprisingly, Świątek received a response from one of the former Olympians. “At the games, you showed Polish to the fans real face sports. It's important to be able to rise after failure. Fulfilling a sporting dream sometimes requires more time, you have plenty of it. And this beautiful bronze medal, in four years, will remind you that there is work to do. Big applause” – said Tomasz Sikora.
Sikora is a five-time participant in the Winter Olympic Games and a silver medalist from Turin 2006 in the 15 km mass start. – If I had scored in Turin, I would have become an Olympic champion. Most biathletes suffer more defeats than victories. Almost all of them. And of course, after something like that, there is some brooding. But after a day or two of thinking and analyzing, there comes another start and you really think about what is ahead of you, not about what has slipped away – Sikora told us in an interview in February 2020.
Adam Bucholz from the skijumping.pl portal noticed that until Friday it was Sikora who was the Olympic medalist in a discipline that was “new” for Poles.