““There were 1-2 medals missing in canoeing, in athletics we are counting on 2-3 medals, and there are no medals in sailing and swimming,” Radosław Piesiewicz, president of the Polish Olympic Committee, said in an interview with PAP. In his opinion, the result of 15-16 medals was absolutely realistic. He is satisfied with medals in nine disciplines.
We are pleased that our ten medals were won in nine disciplines. I think this is a great joy. However, we need to think about which disciplines gave us little or no record, try to help and draw conclusions. So that we can normally enjoy the 16-20 medals won at the Olympic Games.
– said the president of the Polish Olympic Committee in an interview with PAP in Paris.
Among the positive points, he cited medals in boxing, tennis, the team epee tournament and track cycling.
This is a big plus point, something amazing.
– he said.
In canoeing, we are happy that after 24 years Klaudia Zwolińska won the medal in whitewater canoeing. There were still 1-2 medals missing in the kayak sprint. In athletics, after nine medals in Tokyo, we expected 2-3 medals. That was missing. Sailing does not bring medals. We are also counting on swimming. Well, we need to approach this calmly, think systematically about solutions, so that we can enjoy more medals in Los Angeles.
– said Piesiewicz.
Piesiewicz stressed that he has been president of the Polish Olympic Committee for 15 months and, in his opinion, it was a good and good idea to create a Polish House in Paris during the games.
We have been able to help associations that have won medals. This is encouraging. I believe that we need to move in this direction so that the money we collect goes to our own contribution. There is more and more money in the state budget, we need to be realistic about this. In order for the unions to receive this money, they must have their own contribution. This own contribution was provided by the Polish Olympic Committee and I think it is a good solution to support them.
– he said. He gave boxing as an example. In his opinion, the money was very well spent in this association, with athletes, coaches and staff.
The President of the Polish Olympic Committee also spoke about the possibility of the Polish Olympic Committee taking responsibility for professional sports.
This is a good place to start the discussion. I hope I can meet with the Prime Minister and we can start talking about this, because each of us wants to achieve much better results in sport. So that we can enjoy more medals and hear Dąbrowski Mazurek more often at the Olympic Games.
– he emphasized.
The President of the Polish Olympic Committee was asked by the PAP about Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s words on Friday. The head of government then said that he would like “the POC and sports associations to be accountable to the public for public money”.
I am trying to understand the Prime Minister who was asked about this. The Polish Olympic Committee does not have budgetary funds, so if we are talking about money from companies from the State Treasury, these are companies and we settle accounts with this money every two months. We calculate the advertising equivalent and this is a normal sponsorship. This is not money from the state budget, but from companies that provide us with funds for carrying out appropriate marketing work and for transferring these funds to specific sports associations. We do this reliably.
– said President Piesiewicz.
He added that when it comes to budgetary allocations for sports associations, “it is very natural that we settle accounts every year”.
Every year we submit a report and every year it is accepted. Then we can get more funds that work for another year.
– he explained as president of the Polish Basketball Association.
“The nine disciplines that won medals are a great joy.”
Piesiewicz added that, in his opinion, Poland has the potential to seek medals at the Olympic Games very broadly – in many disciplines, and on a one-off basis.
The nine sports that won medals are a great joy. We need to support the sports in which it is “easier” to win medals. There we should put even more emphasis and even more resources. So that I can enjoy 20 medals at the Olympic Games. We can simply pay for it. I mentioned 16 medals and note that if we had won one medal in the sports I mentioned at the beginning, we would have 15 to 16 medals today.
– he concluded.
According to the president of the Polish Olympic Committee, future success must be sought “at the grassroots”.
First of all, there must be a professional physical education teacher from grades 1 to 3. There used to be a great campaign promoted by Minister Mucha called “Stop PE Layoffs”. This is necessary to encourage young people to play sports. We need to show that sports are cool, that sports are cool. Unfortunately, today young people have other activities. There is a phone and an iPad, there are computers and consoles. We are not going in the right direction. “Stop PE Layoffs” is a very good program and we want to get back to it too.
– concluded Piesiewicz.
tkwl/PAP
