When a silver medal is more than it’s worth in gold

baku — Austrian twins Anna-Maria and Eirini-Marina Alexandri won silver medal in women’s synchronised swimming duet at the European Games on Monday, days after watching three teammates get hit by a shuttle bus in the athletes’ village.

The 17-year-old sisters had considered pulling out of the event following the accident on Thursday but wanted to compete on behalf of their teammates, one of whom, Vanessa Sahinovic, remains in an induced coma in Vienna with a damaged spine and multiple hip and leg fractures.

Luna Pajer suffered a broken arm during the sickening crash and was flown home while a third teammate, Verena Breit, received treatment to a bruised hip but remained in the Azeri capital to compete.

The sisters, who have a third identical sibling in Vasiliki-Pagona, who was reserve for the duet, broke into tears at the culmination of the event before dedicating their medals to their stricken teammates during a poignant ceremony.

“Of course, this for Vanessa and Luna and also for all the other girls in the team. It’s for our coaches, for Austria, for our family, for our mother and for all the people who have supported us,” Eirini-Marina told reporters.

“We are proud of what we’ve done. It has been very difficult but we have had very big support from our Olympic committee and Austria.

“We never imagined we would win a silver. We just wanted a medal, the colour didn’t matter.”

Austria’s synchronised swimming coach Albena Mladenova said their surprise medal had helped boost morale within the Austrian team after a testing period.

“I’m very proud of them. What they have done is amazing, remarkable. I’m a coach who wants perfection but everything was together and I think they have helped put a smile back after some bad days.” —