Ten medals – one gold, four silver and five bronze. This is the achievement of the Polish Olympic team at the Paris 2024 games.
In the medal standings, Poland finished the games in 42nd place. The ranking would look a bit better if it only took into account the number of medals, not their color. Then we would be in 21st place. But sports are all about winning. And we only have a handful of winners.
Ten World Records: Polish Sport Doesn't Have Enough of Them
The winner is Aleksandra Mirosław. Her trainer and husband, Mateusz Mirosław, proudly answers when I ask: “How many times has Ola actually broken the world record? Because honestly, it's hard to count them.” Well, 10 times. She broke the record three years ago at the Tokyo Olympics. But then, climbing races on the wall were just part of the triathlon. And Ola was fourth in the combined final classification. Now she took the gold, breaking her world record twice along the way – in the eliminations.
The winners and victors in Polish sports are also the volleyball players, Iga Świątek and Natalia Kaczmarek. The volleyball players, who have been serially serving themselves and us medals from major events, have now finally broken the curse of the quarterfinals at the Games. It was great to watch how, after failures at this stage in 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016 and 2021, they are now taking what they deserve.
It was also wonderful to see the queen of Roland Garros rise after her fall in the semi-final. Świątek was supposed to take gold on her favorite courts – it was obvious to the whole world. She buckled a bit under this weight. But for a moment – in 24 hours she overcame a serious crisis and won the bronze medal.
Kaczmarek, on the other hand, ran as far as she could run. And saved the honor of Polish track and field, which had a record nine medals in Tokyo, and now only has the one from Natalia. Kaczmarek is still making progress, still gaining speed, but she has not yet caught up with two of her rivals enough to fight for more than bronze.
The gods are coming down from Olympus. And there are no new ones in sight
Gold, silver and two bronze medals from the biggest stars of Polish sport really mean a lot. It's great to have proven champions. Especially since we are losing some of them. Gods and goddesses such as Anita Włodarczyk (fourth in Paris, five centimetres from the podium), Wojciech Nowicki (seventh), Paweł Fajdek (fifth) and Karolina Naja (after four medals from the 2012, 2016 and 2021 Games, she has not reached the podium in either the kayaking pair or four) are getting old and probably already leaving Olympus. It's tough, it's a normal process. However, what is abnormal and worrying is that we are sorely lacking young, angry people. That is, athletes who would show at these Games that the future will be theirs. Who are we going to mention here? Julia Szeremeta – of course! But that's it, only this 20-year-old boxer really fought and conquered the world.
Only one Polish gold is the weakest result since 1956, since the Melbourne Games. Only then Poland with nine medals was 17th in the medal table, and today with 10 medals it is only 42nd.
We sent only 64 athletes to the games that took place 68 years ago, and now – as many as 214. On the other hand, while criticizing our contemporary Olympians and lamenting their ineffectiveness, let us remember how much the world of sports has grown. At those games, teams from 72 countries competed, at these – as many as 206. Then, 38 countries won medals, now – 92. The cake is simply being shared by more and more willing and increasingly hungry people.
President Piesiewicz talks about the top 4
It is known that whatever we say, our appetites are greater. The President of the Polish Olympic Committee, Radosław Piesiewicz, announced 15-16 medals, counting on it being better than it was three years ago in Tokyo (there Poland won 14 medals – four gold and five silver and bronze).
On Sunday, Piesiewicz invited Polish journalists to a meeting summarizing the games. He didn't make excuses, rather he demanded changes. He said that if he, as the head of the Polish Olympic Committee, started to manage all the athletes in our sport (now the Ministry of Sport does this, coordinating sports associations), then in four years he would gladly take responsibility for Poland's result at the games.
Piesiewicz rightly said that as a country we shouldn't talk about organizing the games if we only win 10 medals there. That we first need to build a system that will give us 30 medals.
But how to build this system? It is doubtful that the Ministry of Sport will become – as Piesiewicz would like – a ministry responsible “only” for popularizing sport and developing it among children. It is also doubtful that giving the feat to the Polish Olympic Committee would solve all the problems. Although Piesiewicz boasts that now, without receiving even a penny from the state budget, the Polish Olympic Committee is able to help small associations from its own funds from sponsors. We heard that, for example, from the money donated by the Polish Olympic Committee to Polish boxing, its president funded scholarships for competitors. And so the financial status of Julia Szeremeta, among others, improved.
– We managed to make it so that there were no presidents of individual associations in the Olympic Village, so they did not block places for coaches, physiotherapists and other people helping athletes – emphasized Tomasz Majewski, head of our Olympic mission.
We also heard that the creation of the Polish House in the Bois de Boulogne (at a cost of about 12 million zlotys, not 28, as was rumored – Piesiewicz emphasized) was a success, where fans and journalists met with athletes and together they rejoiced in what Polish sport managed to get out of these games. But can anyone rejoice in such things as a place in the top 4 national houses in the unofficial classification that Piesiewicz refers to?
Marketing is a plus. But the games are about sports, not marketing
This is marketing, these are add-ons, this is pretty packaging. But what exactly? In pretty paper is a small cookie. We won't eat enough of it. And there's no confectioner in sight with a recipe for better pastries.
President Piesiewicz doesn't look like one either. On the one hand, he says how proud he is to be at the forefront of Polish Olympism on the centenary of Poland's first start at the Summer Games. On the other hand, he dodges better than Szeremeta when we ask him if he won't give up this Olympism next year to run in the presidential elections.
Then Piesiewicz talks about his relationship with basketball players. We hear that he visits them at their homes, that he eats meals together, that of course he attends every game. We hear that the president loves sports, but is disgusted by politics in its current, national form. But when we ask him whether he ultimately wants to take responsibility for what Polish sports will be like at the Olympics in four years, or whether he would rather take responsibility for all of Poland, he answers: “I'll tell you that Poland is also important.”