International Gymnast

Parallel Lives

Poland’s Marta Pihan and Roman Kulesza

balance gymnastics and marriage

By John Crumlish

THE summer of 2008 was wrought with emotional conflict for Polish Olympian Marta Pihan. Joyfully plan- ning her October wedding to fellow gymnast Roman Kulesza, Pihan competed shakily at the Beijing Olympics in August. Pihan’s performance left her disheartened, but marriage gave her just the right distraction and helped her find the incentive to continue.

“After qualifications at the Olympics, I was
depressed for two days,” Pihan says. “I cried in
my room. I thought I could make the all-around
final and maybe the beam final. I had a good
competition, but then I went to beam. I fell and I
missed an acrobatic connection, and everything
was finished. I didn’t expect that because I was
good and fit.”
Pihan returned to Poland and devoted herself
to her wedding. She and Kulesza spent their hon-
eymoon in the U.S., where they visited Pihan’s
relatives in Southern California and gymnastics
friends who now perform in Las Vegas. The hon-
eymoon was over for Pihan and Kulesza, but she
quickly found good reason to return to the gym.
“My Olympics wasn’t enough of what I could
show people,” says the 22-year-old Pihan. “I was-
n’t satisfied with the Olympics. Maybe gymnastics
should be fun and not so serious.”
While married life seems to be blissful for Pihan
and Kulesza, their devotion is currently challenged
by the 180 miles that separate them. Pihan, who
left the national team training center in Zabrze
following Beijing, trains in Szczecin and lives with
her mother. Kulesza lives and trains in Gdansk.
Pihan says they live apart because neither city has
a gym adequately equipped to train women and
men.

Pihan and Kulesza are making it work, though. ” We talk many times and try to see each other every weekend,” Pihan says. “We have many

competitions where we go together, such as
Doha, Milan and many others.”
The couple’s courtship began in 2001, at
Pihan’s first international meet, in the Czech
Republic. “We met and started texting, phone
calls…,” Pihan recalls. “It was slow, many years.
We were with each other for two years, and
broke up for a year and a half, and got back
together in 2005. But now we’re back together,
forever!”
As perhaps the only married couple currently
competing internationally, Pihan and Kulesza are
regulars on the World Cup circuit. Pihan has won
four World Cup medals, including gold on beam
at the 2009 Tournament of Masters in Cottbus,
Germany. Kulesza has won three World Cup
medals, and made the finals on high bar at three
of the past four European championships.

Pihan says her husband plays an additional role
in the latest phase of her career. She is currently
without a coach, so Kulesza (who turned 27 on
“On vault, bars and acrobatics, Roman has

many good ideas for preparation,” Pihan says. “I
can’t help him very much because he has more
experience since he’s older than me. I can offer
him good words of support, but I can’t help him
in training. He knows what to do.”
Marriage seems to agree with Pihan’s and
Kulesza’s gymnastics, too. Pihan, who placed
10th all-around at the 2009 Europeans, says oth-
ers have noticed a positive difference in her fit-
ness level. “I don’t know why, and I don’t under-
stand it,” she says, beaming modestly. “Everyone
on the team and at meets says, ‘Oh wow, what
have you been doing?’”
Pihan says she is also benefiting from less time
in the gym; she used to train
twice a day, but now only
once. “I’m a pretty old gym-
nast now, but I have a lot of
experience and it’s easier for
me,” she says. “It’s enough
for me, because I don’t have
to learn too many new ele-
ments and combinations. I
feel it’s a better way for me.”
As Pihan aims for the

2012 Olympics, she wants Kulesza to achieve his
own Olympic potential. “We had plans for
Beijing, but Roman had injuries,” she says.
“Roman had a hard year in 2009. He didn’t
make the high bar final in Milan (Europeans). The
head coach (Andrei Levit) went to Canada, but
the second coach (Piotr Mikolajek) is very good.
He makes a very good atmosphere for the guys
in the gym. I think 2010 will be better for
Roman, and we hope.”
Love for each other is the key of the Pihan-
Kulesza partnership, but love for gymnastics is
one of the couple’s most treasured common
bonds. “Gymnastics has helped Roman and me,
because we have the same passion,” Pihan says.
“We have the same thing to do each day. We
must wake up earlier, go to training, focus on
training, and think about gymnastics and training
every day. It helps when the person you love does
the same thing and loves the same thing.” IG
IG contributor John Crumlish lives in Los Angeles.