Sibling athletes who share a sport — particularly high achievers — often operate in lockstep in their early careers. Gabriela and Lucia Stafford were no…
Gabriela, 25, is gearing up for her second time at the Games. She donned a Canadian singlet at the 2016 Rio Olympics, where she finished 25th. She holds the Canadian record for fastest 1500-metre, mile and 5,000-metre, and recently became the first Canadian woman to break two minutes in the 800m, four minutes in the 1,500m, and 15 minutes in the 5,000m.
While teammates spend plenty of time with each other, sibling athletes who share a sport — particularly high achievers — often operate in lockstep in their early careers. Gabriela and Lucia were no different to start, but instead harnessed their family’s roots in Irish dancing before touching the track.
“With Gabriela, it really took the training effect for her full potential to be realized. Lucia was probably starting at a higher starting point,” Radchenko said. By grade 12, Gabriela had won gold at the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations cross country championships and was preparing to run at the University of Toronto.
As sisters who’d sometimes train and race together, those instincts would sometimes show — but, as Lucia and Radchenko emphasized, it was always healthy.Article contentAnother linking factor during their careers has been constantly managing Graves’ disease, an immune system disorder that the two were diagnosed with in close succession as teens.
“My sister kind of took on a much more motherly role in a sense, so she’s my big sister but in a lot of ways she feels very protective of me and my brother.” said Lucia. “I love her to bits and pieces.”
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