Iga Swiatek Bagged the Bronze At The Olympics

On Thursday, World No. 1 player Iga Swiatek was shockingly defeated in the Olympics semi-final. The 23-year-old clearly did not take it well. At the end of the match, the Polish refused to shake the umpire’s hand and stormed out of the post-match interview in tears. But, Swiatek did not let her disappointment linger too long. 

On Friday, she was back in top form, besting Slovakia’s Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, 6-2, 6-1 to clinch the bronze medal. The win made her the first Polish tennis player in history to win an Olympic medal. It is certainly a worthy consolation prize after the crushing defeat the day before.

The five-time Grand Slam winner – four of them French Open – came into the competition as the overwhelming favorite for the gold. The semi-final showdown at Roland Garros, where she had a 25-win streak, should’ve been easily hers on paper. But China’s Zhang Qinwen managed to upset in a straight set, 6-2, 7-5, ending the Queen of Clay’s impressive streak.

Swiatek later admitted to crying for six hours following the loss. “It was like somebody really broke my heart,” she said. 

While a bronze is not what she’d hoped to take home from Paris, Swiatek showed true champ mentality by bouncing back swiftly after the heartbreak. 

“I think if I hadn’t played today I would cry for a week, so I needed to get it together,” she concluded.

Congratulations Iga!

View some posts of Iga and her team celebrating the bronze medal.