PARIS (Reuters) – It could have been her twin sister racing in the Olympic speed-climbing event this week, but when Poland’s Aleksandra Kalucka won the bronze medal on Wednesday she knew the prize belonged to both of them.
The Kalucka twins have been competing together on the international climbing circuit for years, but only one of them could make it to Paris because Aleksandra Miroslaw had taken the other available spot in Poland’s team.
The sisters had cried at breakfast on the June morning when they raced each other in the final Olympics qualification round in Budapest that would decide which would become a Paris Olympian.
On Wednesday, however, there was only joy on the twins’ faces.
“I certainly wouldn’t be here without her and this is our common medal, so we did it together,” Aleksandra, known as Ola, said.
After hitting the buzzer which turned green to confirm her win over Indonesia’s Rajiah Sallsabillah, Ola lowered herself along the belay and looked for her biggest cheerleader in the audience.
“She is the most important person in my life,” Ola said. “So (of course) after the competition I caught my sister to talk about my feelings. We are so close and I’m so grateful that my sister helps me so much. Without her I wouldn’t be here.”
It could have easily been Natalia in action. She was the 2021 world champion and had taken the World Cup title from her sister last year.
There was no hint of envy, however, from Natalia who appeared on camera with Ola after the race, performing a mock interview for TV as a joke.
“How did you manage to do it without a great person such as myself?,” she laughed.
When Ola responded by reminding her that she had just beaten her sister’s personal best time – not once, but twice – at the Olympics, Natalia feigned a scarred ego and scolded her sibling for rubbing it in.
“You didn’t have to add that,” she said. “But I’m a proud sister. I’m not the star at the moment.”
(Reporting by Chang-Ran Kim, additional reporting by Trevor Stynes in Krakow, editing by Ed Osmond)
