Polish volleyball players had been waiting for an Olympic medal since 1976. In Paris, they finally succeeded and Nikola Grbić's team won silver, losing 0:3 to the French team in the final. The White and Reds returned to Poland two days after their great triumph, where they were greeted by crowds of fans.
Silver medalists already in Poland. Volleyball players landed in the country, and Bartosz Kurek spoke
After losing in the final, the Polish volleyball players remained in Paris, but together with other Olympians, they arrived in the country on Monday. At around 3:30 p.m., they went out to fans and journalists at the Chopin Airport in Warsaw, as reported by Sport.pl journalist Dominik Wardzichowski. “Bartosz Kurek led out the silver medalists of the Olympic Games,” he wrote.
In the video, we see the captain leading the group leaving the airport customs zone. Later, of course, the national team players were officially welcomed, received flowers and began to address the fans. Kurek was the first to do so.
– Thank you for coming in such large numbers. You are fantastic, it is a pure pleasure and honor to play for you. We fulfilled our dreams and I hope yours to see this team on the podium. For this team, this is just the beginning, even though we have been fighting together for so many years. They will not stop and will do something even crazier in Los Angeles. To sum up – we took a few blows, but we also gave back – said Kurek, which can be seen in the video published by Arkadiusz Dudziak on the X service.
The captain of the Polish team received one more question. “Are you more tired, or could you play another tournament tomorrow, since you arrived with medals around your necks?” he heard.
– We're more hungover – Kurek drawled jokingly, which brought joy to the audience. – A bit tired too, but after such a final there's fire in this team and they could play another tournament – he added at the end.
Bartosz Kurek has already won two European championships, a world championship, and gold in the Nations League and the World League with the Polish national team, in addition to the Olympic silver. The 35-year-old will probably not go to the Olympics in Los Angeles with the national team due to his age, and recently there have also been voices that he will end his national team career now.