Meet Ewa Swoboda, the Polish runner who went viral after her camera salute before the women’s 100m and is a Barbie model
REWIND back to the the women’s 100m round 1, right before the competitors race, and the cameras introduce the runners.
It pans to Polish runner Ewa Swoboda, who acknowledges the viewers with a salute as she limbers up.
Amusingly, she wags her finger and then quickly switches hands and salutes again.
It’s a moment that went viral, regardless of Swoboda’s performance (she came up short in the event in the semi-final).
The salute gesture had fans desperately trying to guess why she suddenly switched hands.
Some think they have cracked it – with it something to do with the military.
Of course, a military salute is with the right hand, while it could be seen as a civilian greeting using your left.
According to a document on the US Department of Defense website, Army and Air Force customs only permit right-handed salutes.
But there’s more to the popular athlete than mixing up her hand gestures.
Quite brilliantly, she has a Barbie doll made in her honour that was created by Mattel to celebrate role model athletes.
While the tattoo enthusiast also had to overcome abuse to become a Polish champion.
Immortalised
Very few people in the world can say they have their own Barbie likeness.
Back in May, on Barbie’s 65th anniversary, doll makers Mattel honoured nine trailblazing athletes around the world.
Tennis legend Venus Williams and Australian soccer star Mary Fowler were among the names featured.
As did track and field star, Swoboda.
In a press release, Mattel explained their reasons: “Ewa Swoboda’s determination, talent, and fearless nature have served as a source of inspiration for young girls across the globe.
“She is a three-time European Indoor Championship medalist, as well as a World Indoor Championship medalist, holding the world lead of 7.01 seconds in the 60-meter race.”
Swoboda was, obviously, delighted.
She shared snaps online clutching her figure, and summed up her thoughts beautifully.
She wrote: “I am overjoyed that Barbie appreciated my story and honoured me alongside eight other amazing female athletes from around the world with the title of Barbie Role Model.
“I still can’t believe it! I used to play with dolls as a little girl, and now I have my own Barbie doll that looks like me—the only one of its kind in the world.”
She added: “I want my story to show that it’s always worth being yourself. You don’t have to meet anyone’s expectations or fit into an imposed framework to achieve your goals. Each of us has the right to express ourselves in our own way. Thank you, Barbie!”
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The hardships
There was a moment in time that Swoboda felt like jacking it all in.
The sprinter, who has over 700,000 followers on Instagram and boasts a larger than life personality, has faced vile abuse online.
At one point she contemplated quitting the sport after the abuse got so bad.
“I had thoughts of stopping training,” she revealed.
“It was all because of people’s hatred. In 2018, things weren’t going well for me. Athletes have bad times. It’s normal. However, my self-confidence was completely destroyed. I was ashamed to show myself as I was. It was the hardest period in my life.”
But, she proved her doubters wrong in recent years.
First, she broke the Polish national record in the 60 meters twice at the Orlen Cup meeting in Łódź and set a new one by achieving 7.00 seconds in 2022.
A few months later, she broke the record again at the Polish Indoor Championships in Toruń with a time of 6.99 seconds, which was the tenth best result in the history of the competition.
Fast-forward a further two years and she beat that – recording 6.98 seconds.
Better still, Swoboda won the silver medal in the women’s 100 meters event at the European Championships in Rome by achieving 11.03 seconds losing only to our own Dina Asher-Smith.
Tat’s amazing
Swoboda stands out on the track thanks to her epic tattoos.
“They give me an extra kick,” she once said of the ink on her body.
Some of the artwork includes animals, including a cat on her chest in honour of a pet.
There are 10 tattoos in total on her left leg, making her an unlikely pin-up in her homeland.
Her personal life has been documented. Previously, she was in a relationship with Polish shot putter Konrad Bukowiecki who she met at Rio 2016.
However, after an Olympic romance, that soon fizzled out.
That didn’t put her off athletes, and she is now reportedly dating Paris 2024 Polish hurdler Krzysztof Kiljan, although they don’t share pictures together and keep their personal life private.
“I promised myself that I would never want to have an athlete boyfriend again,” she told Interia.
“I won’t say why, but you know… I said to myself: ‘I will never want an athlete in my life again’.
“But it so happened that fate sent him to me. And, I will honestly admit that I had not known him before.
“We only met in December 2021. I was ready to accept such a wonderful person into my life. And I am glad that we can learn from each other.”
