Ukrainian artistic swimming twins Maryna and Vladyslava Aleksiiva extend a message of hope: "It's time to smile"
Having fled their hometown last winter with just summer attire and a solitary Olympic medal, the sisters consistently triumph in major competitions despite significant challenges. Their optimistic performances serve as a beacon of hope, conveying a powerful message of resilience and strength.
Artistic Swimming
It is hard to find a more cheerful artistic swimming routine at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka than the aptly named “It’s Time to Smile”.
Set to a medley of upbeat music and starting off with a dynamic one-handed handstand, the acrobatic marvel is a two-minute delight delivered by a team including Maryna and Vladyslava Aleksiiva.
Despite being displaced from their native Kharkiv since the onset of war in February 2022, these Ukrainian twin sisters would be the last ones you'd expect to show optimism.
Facing tremendous challenges over the past 17 months, the sisters have continued to win medals at the biggest international events, including the world championships and European championships, and have inspired spectators, at home and abroad, with their energetic routines.
"We wanted to showcase our resilience, represent our country admirably in these testing times, and not show how difficult it is for us," Vladyslava Aleksiiva told Olympics.com. "And that's why our music is quite cheerful and heroic."
The twin sisters have competed together since they were juniors. In 2021, after the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games where they won bronze in the team event, they became Ukraine’s main artistic swimming duet and are now hoping to share their message of optimism and joy at Paris 2024.
Maryna and Vladyslava Aleksiiva: Their new reality
Soon after the war broke out, the elder Aleksiivs decided they needed to get their 20-year-old daughters out. Their hometown Kharkiv, an eastern city that sits 30km from the border, was the target of some of the heaviest attacks and the sisters still recall the fear they felt in those first moments of their new reality.
Throwing some things quickly into the car, the Aleksiiv family drove more than 24 hours on jammed roads together with thousands also trying to leave the country.
"When we left Kharkiv with our parents, it was very unclear what was happening, what needed to be done, what to do next," Vladyslava Aleksiiva said. "We had with us the things we had packed for a summer training camp in Türkiye where we were supposed to go in a few days. So there were only summer things in there. And the documents, of course, we also brought with us."
Their winter clothes, sports equipment, and family photos were left behind. But Vladyslava did remember to grab one important thing on the way out of the apartment, a special object she showed to her sister a few days later – their, now shared, bronze Olympic medal.
The first refuge of the Ukrainian artistic swimmers, including the Aleksiiva twins, was Italy. Their Italian sports counterparts provided them with sports equipment as well as daily essentials, even bringing over a washing machine and detergent.
Maryna and Vladyslava Aleksiiva also received daily messages of support from athletes around the world, including the United States, China, Japan and Mexico. Some even invited them to come and train at their pool.
But even with all the support, it was hard for the Ukrainian athletes to train during those first weeks.
"The first training sessions in Italy were very difficult because all the girls were very upset," Vladyslava Aleksiiva said. "There was no mood for it at all, especially with the kinds of news that we kept seeing, what was happening in Ukraine, in our hometown. We were all very worried about our parents because all our parents stayed in Ukraine.
"At first we didn't understand why we needed to continue training because we didn't have a goal, we didn't have any inspiration. Because of that, it was a very difficult time."
After six months in Italy, the twins also went back home, though not to Kharkiv.
"We did not see our relatives at all for half a year because mom and dad stayed in Ukraine," Vladyslava Aleksiiva said. "Only after, when all the competitions were over, at the end of the season, we decided to come back to Ukraine and train in Kyiv because there is no opportunity to go to Kharkiv and it is very unsafe there. So we were given shelter in Kyiv and we continued our training there."
The future for the Aleksiiva twins
Looking at the five routines Maryna and Vladyslava Aleksiiva are performing at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships this month, it is tough to visualise the challenges they are facing out of the pool.
In addition to the “It’s Time to Smile” acrobatic team routine, which they debuted days after the one-year anniversary of the war at the World Cup in Markham, Canada, the twins are also performing a free duet called “Scramble to Position”.
Maryna Aleksiiva has described the vibrant routine as an "underwater disco" given the great number of rotations and spins included in the choreography.
"What sustains our motivation during this challenging phase is our duty. A duty which asserts Ukraine's vitality and the resilience of our people," Vladyslava Aleksiiva elucidated. "We aim to demonstrate that even amidst national adversities, we can ascend to the podium, ensure our anthem reverberates worldwide, and remind everyone that our nation is indomitable and robust."
The "It's Time to Smile" routine has been a hit on the world stage, earning the Ukrainian team victories at the World Cup stops in Markham and Montpellier, France this season, as well as the gold in the Super Final in Oviedo, Spain in June.
The Aleksiiva sisters have also enjoyed great success since becoming the country's leading duet. They swept gold in women's duets at the 2022 European Championships and took two duet silvers at the 2022 World Aquatics Championships.
After winning bronze at Tokyo 2020, they are aiming for a medal of a different colour at the next Olympic Games. The extra challenge there will come from having to adjust their routines to the new sport rules that were introduced in artistic swimming ahead of the 2023 season.
“Our plan is to make our routine harder, stronger, interesting and add something unusual because with these rules, you can show something interesting," Maryna Aleksiiva told Olympics.com. "So we will try to show something unusual, and of course we want to get an Olympic quota.”
A spot at Paris 2024 would also be one more opportunity for the sisters to bring joy to the Ukrainian people - wherever they may be.
"After the war, our life, of course, changed radically. First, because half of the city, our hometown, was destroyed. And our pool, in which we trained all our lives, was also damaged," Vladyslava Aleksiiva said. "Most of all, we miss home, our native Kharkiv, the pool where we trained all our lives. We miss the atmosphere we had before the war and the peaceful life. We miss our relatives who are now all over the world. We haven't seen each other for a very long time. This is what we are missing now, but we understand that at the moment it cannot be any other way. Such is the time now in our country."