The Polish team finished the Olympic Games in Tokyo with 14 medals – 4 gold, 5 silver and 5 bronze. This put our country in 17th place in the medal table. Is Poland’s good standing in world sport, perhaps not? Were these games good for the representatives of our country or maybe bad?

Although it turned out to be the best of the 21st century in terms of the number and type of medals, does this mean a great success for Polish sport, or does it only emphasize its weakness, or perhaps even its weakness. I’m more inclined to recent reviews. why?

Poland is the fifth demographic country in the European Union and the sixth in the Old Continent. Relative European countries, such as Great Britain, are not much larger than us [4. miejsce, 65 medali (22-21-22)], France [8., 33 (10-12-11), Niemcy [9., 37 (10-11-16)], Italy [10., 40 (10-10-20)]They are definitely ahead of us in the medal rankings, and the Netherlands is much smaller [7., 36 (10-12-14)] He beats our Olympic team over the head. Before the Olympians, this classification also included countries smaller than Poland: New Zealand (13, 20), Cuba (14, 15), Hungary (15, 20), South Korea. (16, 14). The Spaniards differ slightly from Poland (22nd place), but the total number of Olympic rings (22) is 8 times higher than the Polish ones. Had it not been for our athletes, who are doing so well in Tokyo, the achievements of Polish and Polish women in winning medals would have been shockingly meager. Of course, it could be much worse, but we have nothing to deceive ourselves, because with this result we are far from the top ten.

What comes from? In short, in my opinion, it is mainly caused by the faltering and always difficult Polish physical culture, which is … football. It absorbs not only all talented young Polish people, but also the vast majority of funds allocated to sports. It also absorbs to the point of absurdity all the national media.

For me, the greatest Polish champions at the Tokyo Olympics are the tutors and tutors. Their achievements became the absolute domination of this discipline in the world! The biggest and most pleasant surprise, of course, was David Tomala, who came first on the finish line in the hot 50-kilometer “walk”. To put it mildly, the volleyball players did not have the best impression, for whom the quarter-final match was again an insurmountable obstacle.

Our Tokyo district was represented by only four people: Aleksandra Lisowska, Konrad Bukowitzki (both athletics, AZS UWM Olsztyn), Mateusz Kamiński (rowing, Olsztyn Water Sports Club) and Maciej Sarnacki (Judo, Gwardia Olsztyn).

They all came back from Tokyo without medals.

Shortly before the Olympics, Bukovitsky achieved very good results in throwing the ball, but this year it did not quite work out for him. We pestered him with a series of injuries and turned the preparation plan on its head. So he didn’t have much to say in the Olympic qualifying rounds. A score of 20.01 excluded him from overtime on high stakes.

Kaminski represented our country in the Canadians over 1,000m, and was fourth in the qualifying round, but advanced to the quarter-finals. Here he was third at the finish line and unfortunately was eliminated from the competition (the first pair of Canadians got ahead).

Sarnacki was Poland’s last hope for an Olympic medal in judo. He competed in the +100 kg weight class and lost in the finals 1/16 with the representative of Azerbaijan, Ushangim Kokaurim.

The last representative of our region to perform in Tokyo was Alexandra Lisowska. I participated in a marathon. In extremely challenging weather conditions (high humidity and heat), she had a time worse than Kenya’s winner Perez Jepshireshire by 2.35.33 times by more than 8 minutes, putting her fourth out of ten competitors..

Thus, the last representative of the club from our province, who returned from the Olympic Games with a medal, remains Olsztyn canoeist Adam Sirochinsky, bronze medalist from Sydney (2000).

However, it was very close to being completely different. Again, shortly before the start of the world’s largest sporting event, the administrative and sporting authorities in Warmia and Mazury lacked business acumen, goodwill and, above all, determination. If not, then sports fans from Warmia and Mazury today, like residents of other regions, would be happy with their medals. To sum up: “We ran under our noses” a group of Olympic pucks – gold runner Karol Zalowsky (4x400m mixed relay) and silver and bronze canoeist Anna Polauwska (K-2500 and K-4500).

Originally from Reszel, Karol Zalewski initially played football in the local Orleti, but moved to the county capital, where he began training at AZS UWM Olsztyn under Bronisław Ludwichowska, then Zbigniew Ludwichowski. After many years, he was at the peak of his career, and two years before the Tokyo Olympics, he unexpectedly “changed” the academic club from Olsztyn to Katowice.

On the other hand, Anna Puławska, who started her adventure with canoeing and trained for a long time at the base of Mrągowo under coach Andrzej Matysiak, in similar circumstances to Zalewski, changed her club to … AZS AWF Gorzów.

So the people of Katowice are happy to have their “Olympic champion”, while the residents of Gorzo got their “double medal” at the Tokyo Olympics.

I would like to add that just before the start of the Olympics, Thomas Barniak, a club graduate from Węgorzewo, and a longtime player of the OKSW Olsztyn team, unexpectedly found himself in … as AZS AWF Poznań and in Tokyo our country in the C-2 1000, ranked seventh Well.

I remind you. In just three years, the Olympic Games in Paris, may…

Why Janka