Alice and Asia D’Amato exclusive: “The loss of our father has undoubtedly left a scar”
Alice and Asia D'Amato have drawn strength from each other since they left home to train aged 10 but teammates have morphed into family too, particularly important for this weekend’s Cottbus World Cup in which Alice competes without her treasured sibling.
Artistic Gymnastics
A distracted Alice D’Amato walked into Munich’s Olympiahalle to compete in the uneven bars apparatus final at the 2022 European Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Germany in August.
The Italian was about to compete on the discipline in which she’d already won bronze at the 2019 edition in Szczecin, Poland, and headed into this event as top qualifier, by quite a margin.
However, just minutes earlier, D’Amato had seen twin sister Asia D’Amato sustain an injury in the vault final, which required the stand-out-star of the championships to be carried from the arena in tears.
That twin connection, so helpful throughout the siblings’ sporting journey, is more acute than ever when either is pained.
“You're the only person who understands me just by looking into my eyes...,” Alice wrote of her sibling in an Instagram post in February 2021 when the pair turned 18. “The only one who understands my suffering, melancholy, anger, happiness... it really is just a matter of a simple glance.”
Yet Alice had to step up and perform – not only without ever-constant Asia by her side but knowing her sibling was in pain – but step up she did, completing a clean routine to score enough to secure the silver medal.
At the Cottbus World Cup taking place in Germany from 23-26 February, Alice will again be stepping up solo as Asia continues her rehabilitation from the injury.
“I've almost recovered completely,” said Asia in an update to Olympics.com last week. “It still hurts a little on floor exercise, but soon I will recover that too. There is still a lot of work to do to be at the top and that's what I'm trying to do every day, working hard, hoping to be back on all the apparatus and to be at the top as soon as possible.”
Alice will be happy to hear that, however, she won’t feel alone in Germany. The tight-knit Italian team – ones to watch ahead of Paris 2024 – all feel like sisters, not just the siblings.
Alice and Asia D'Amato: Twinning gymnasts
The Italian women’s team were the breakout stars of the 2022 European Championships. Angela Andreoli, Alice, Asia, Martina Maggio and Giorgia Villa had beaten the Great Britain side, which also included twins in Jessica Gadirova and Jennifer Gadirova, to the gold medal, claiming their nation’s first title in the event since 2006.
Two days later, Asia became the first Italian woman to claim the European all-around title since her compatriot and gymnastics icon, Vanessa Ferrari, a four-time Olympian and Tokyo 2020 floor exercise silver medallist, in 2007.
The team were flying, also coming away from the 2022 championships with bronze for Maggio in the all-around, silver on vault for Asia – despite the injury sustained on the landing of the second vault – and silver and bronze on floor for Maggio and Andreoli, respectively.
A decade of hard work was beginning to pay off.
“Our relationship as a team is special,” said Alice, “because we have everything in common. We do everything together, we live together 24 hours a day, we've been doing everything the same for almost ten years now. Our relationship was formed from the beginning slowly, and now, after ten years, it's like having sisters.”
So much so, Alice happily divulges the character traits of the team both as a group and individually: “The four of us have one thing in common, which is madness, because if you're not crazy, you don't play this sport!
“The more expansive, more social one is Martina, certainly. Giorgia has that side of her character that makes me crack up laughing... I mean, when she starts laughing it doesn't end there, her laughter is contagious. And my sister…” Alice tails off.
What to say about the one person with whom you not only have an otherworldly connection but who has been on exactly the same journey – taking up gymnastics aged seven and by 10, moving away from home to train – to forge their bond even further.
In their younger years, the pair were, “a little more grumpy with each other”, admits Alice. “Now the relationship is united between us… I can't trade my sister for anyone else. She is not comparable to any other person. Now we are united, we are united both in sport and outside.
“It has happened several times that we have had to separate for various reasons, it has been difficult and when we separate, I realise that I need to be with her and do what I do, as we have always done everything together.”
Asia, the more reticent of the two, agrees. “When she's not around, it's like I'm missing a part (of me) and when I share things with her it's much more beautiful and I hope to continue achieving the results we're achieving together with her, because I believe that's a beautiful thing.”
Alice and Asia D'Amato: Kindred spirits
Alice’s devastating injury at the Europeans put a damper on an otherwise successful championships. An operation on the ligaments in her ankle put Alice out for the rest of the season, including the World Championships in Liverpool, UK that took place in October, just two months later.
However, between the two competitions, the siblings lost their father.
“Dear Dad,” posted Alice in an achingly painful post in September. “I’m speechless. You didn’t deserve all this. Life unfortunately put a difficult obstacle in front of you, which couldn’t be solved but that you wanted to put aside... we made a promise to each other that we would always fight for whatever, together until the end and you did as long as you could... thanks for teaching me this too...”
“We've been through a lot together,” Asia told Olympics.com, “and the loss of our father has undoubtedly left a scar, but our bond has helped us get through it more 'easily'.”
Alice agrees, and also cites their training partners' support. “Our teammates have always been very united... this has helped us and will help us. Also with the people who are and will be next to us, to overcome it more 'easily' for sure, even if it is still difficult to get over it.”
Paris 2024 target for Alice and Asia D'Amato
Somehow, Alice managed to compete at the world championships, helping the Italians into fifth place, behind USA, Great Britain and Canada in first, second and third, respectively, with Brazil claiming fourth.
It was an incredible result considering the circumstances, but the team were disappointed to miss out on claiming an automatic spot for Paris 2024 in which the top three teams qualified five-person teams for the Games in France. Having claimed the bronze medal in 2019 – replicating the only other time Italy women had won a team world medal in 1950 – the aim was not far-fetched.
The team are now fired up to qualify as one of nine other team spots available via the 2023 World Championships in Antwerp, Belgium, which take place between 30 September to 8 October.
Should they make it to Paris, they have something else to address, vying with those pesky Brits for a podium position after being beaten to the bronze medal by their regular adversaries, leaving Italy off the podium in fourth.
“After the Tokyo Olympics, when we missed the Olympic medal, there is this desire for redemption, to take what we deserve, and I believe that with all the work we are doing we can do it,” says Asia.
With sibling synergy, team-mate bonds, love and guidance from friends and family, and a more celestial support from their father, you wouldn’t bet against Alice and Asia D’Amato and their sisterhood achieving their goals.
What's next in the artistic gymnastics World Cup series?
Cottbus is the first of four FIG Apparatus World Cup events that will determine the 2023 FIG World Cup Series champions. A points system decides the winners, and, in addition, also serves as qualification for individual gymnasts to the Antwerp World Championships taking place 30 September to 8 October 2023. The next events in the series are:
- 1-4 March – Doha (QAT)
- 9-12 March – Baku (AZE)
- 27-30 April – Cairo (EGY)