The 33rd summertime Olympics ended. After 2 “covid” struggles – summertime in Tokyo and winter in Beijing – watching sports competitions at full stands, in a country where sports are appreciated at the highest level, it was a pleasance for those curious in sports. And even an average successful beginning ceremony didn't spoil it. fewer Polish representatives may have been more concerned.
We could only hear Mazurka Dąbrowski once, on the lower levels of the podium Polish athletes stood 9 more times. A full of 1 gold, 4 silver and 5 bronze placed us in 42nd overall classification. We've never been so low in the authoritative medal classification. We're better off considering the full number of medals, due to the fact that then we're ranked 21.
From the 4 largest countries in the west of Europe (Germans, French, British and Italians) we have a gap. fewer more populace than Poland Spain has almost twice as many medals (18), including 5 zlotys. But inactive in the 1980s, the Spaniards won individual medals. erstwhile they organized the 1992 Games themselves, their balance sheet improved, but only since Athens in 2004 are they better than us each time. Even sadder for us is watching in the medal classification the back much little many of us Hungarians, Dutch, Belgians, Swedes, Norwegians, Bulgarians, Romanians or war-torn Ukrainians. 1 can be comforted that behind us there are, among others, larger Argentina or Turkey, but mediocre comfort, especially in relation to the former. For many would most likely trade with Argentina for medals (three discs in each color), in exchange for being the planet and continent champion in the most popular athletics in the world.
The easiest reasons for failure to look in the condition of Polish sports unions. As at the Games, there is no deficiency of controversy about the actions of activists. Not taking a sparringpartner to a wrestler's games, besides late handing over the suits to cyclists or controversial personnel choices in the fencing squad are just any of the scandals that have emerged in public space during the last Games. The social temper was read by the Minister of athletics Sławomir Nitras, first publishing the number of public spending allocated to circumstantial disciplines and sports unions themselves, and later sending a letter to all organizations asking how many activists went on an Olympic tour. Setting up in a contra to union activists is simply a neat pixie play – there is no shortage of controversy, results are mediocre, and social trust in sports activists is most likely even little than for politicians.
However, the shallowing of problems of Polish athletics to the unions themselves and their problems is false. Especially since we recorded advancement in most disciplines compared to Tokyo 2021. 3 years ago, the medal position was drawn by athletics, in which we won 9 medals, including all 4 gold. For a tennis union, it is simply a historical game with the first medal, the boxing union won the first medal after 32 years. It is absurd to get active just now and due to sports results.
The problem is much broader and the self-improvement of management in relationships will not aid much. In Poland we do not have a advanced level of physical culture. From school to adult population activity. besides fewer people practice sports, besides fewer people are curious in sports (not counting single rebounds in case of large events). According to a survey of the Eurobarometer of 2022, Poles are 1 of the least physically active nations, surpassing only Greeks and Portuguese (whose Olympic activities, which are worth noticing, do not delight either).
The low physical activity of the elders translates into children and youths, for behaviour patterns are carried out from home. Specialists from the Academy of Physical Education in Warsaw in 2023 published investigation that shocks. This is not only a problem of overweight among children, but besides the inability to execute simple exercise. Among the I-III class students surveyed, 88% cannot execute a appropriate turn forward, 86% can not catch a tennis ball reflected from the wall, 78% can not overcome the obstacle in the run and 74% cannot goat with the ball. Compared to investigation from the past years, there is simply a immense physical regression of the young generation.
Physical education is inactive second class in school. In classes I-III, it is not even led by prepared teachers of PE, but by educators from first education. And yet this is the minute erstwhile children's mobility skills make and their talents for the disciplines should be captured. These classes should be introduced immediately, but a teacher's wage stands in the way. Without PE, primary teachers would not be able to supply the essential full-time hours. That's why this absurdity is at its best. No 1 can imagine a situation where children are taught English by a non-Englishist, and in physical education specified an anomaly is normal.
Another problem is absenteeism in the PE class. A decade ago, the ultimate Control Chamber warned that in primary schools, 15% of pupils do not exercise, and in secondary schools, this figure reaches as much as 30%. Often, students do not practice on the basis of their parents’ dismissals. Still, it is hard to find a case in the Polish school erstwhile by physical education individual does not pass from class to class. Avoidance of PEs should consequence in inability to advance to the next class, and only medical professionals should be allowed to issue exemptions. Nor should the requests for the elimination of the evaluation from the PE be taken into account, as this will only aggravate the degradation of this subject.
However, as far as competitive athletics is concerned, it is worth noting that the erstwhile heads of the Ministry of athletics and Education introduced a program of "sport talent" into schools. It had its first edition this spring. In schools across Poland, fitness tests were carried out to find the results of students in the shuttle run, jump in the distance and in the front (the alleged board). According to the first assumptions, anonymized test results were to be made available to unions and sports clubs that could contact their parents through school to offer them further sports development. However, the fresh authorities of the Ministry of athletics and Education want to decision distant from this thought and carry out fitness tests for statistical and teaching purposes only. "The school is not from selecting children for those who are fit from those who have been directed to the another side since the first PE lesson – you are disabled," argued Minister of athletics Sławomir Nitras. It should be agreed that the provision of performance data at school to sports associations and clubs could constitute a breach of individual data. This was highlighted by the Ombudsman. However, to completely prevent these data from being made available to those liable for training future athletes is to deprive themselves of a valuable instrument that can aid discover actual sporting talents. After all, it would be adequate to make available only the data of those students who receive the parents ’ consent. Today, there is small cooperation between schools and clubs, so the second become a place of training only for those children whose parents will send to the club and pay the corresponding classes.
Education is 1 issue; money is another. Minister Nitras, erstwhile publishing the list of subsidies, most likely had the desire to supply the public with information that, despite the generous subsidies from the state, sports unions could not convert these funds into sports success. However, it is hard to measure whether a given discipline received much or small money without comparison, how much money Polish athletes from another countries received. Only specified a message will show the actual scale of efficiency in spending these public funds. Available data indicate that the full public spending on athletics in Poland is somewhat higher than the EU average, mainly due to many investments in sports infrastructure, which took place in our country in fresh years. It's worse erstwhile it comes to citizen spending. Since Poles are under-sportsman, they besides don't spend much money on sports.
Source: Portal X, profile of Sławomir Nitras (https://x.com/SlawomirNitras/status/1822860650567086161)
Source: Portal X, profile of Sławomir Nitras (https://x.com/SlawomirNitras/status/1822860650567086161)
It seems essential to prioritise disciplines for their funding. As a comparatively large country we would like to be good at any discipline, but our personal, infrastructure or financial resources are limited. The British, after defeat at the Atlanta Games (1 gold medal), introduced broad backing for professional sports, but only 1 that gives opportunities for medal successes. For example, the unpopular volleyball in the Isles is financially symbolic. The problem is that in Poland it is hard to have stableness in achieving successes. 3 years ago, they reigned in Tokyo, but the ongoing generational exchange brought us only 1 bronze medal in Paris. In Tokyo we besides had 2 medals in canoes, while this year's starts in this athletics proved to be a large disappointment.
Actually, any more acquainted relation can boast any contribution of its discipline to the improvement of Polish sport. The wrestlers and judots will remember the triumphs in Atlanta, swimmers will remind of the 3 medals of Otylia Jędrzejczak in Athens, the weightlifters will be moved by the memories of the successes of Agata Wróbel and Simon Kołecki, and the legend of Leszek Blanik is inactive alive in gymnastics. The problem is that these are successes of individuals that have emerged and disappeared, and long-term it is hard to call Poles specialists from any discipline. We have leading representations in the retina, but it is hard to call us dominant in this field erstwhile we win the first medal in 48 years. Hungarians are traditionally strong in water sports – kayaks, swimming, waterball, Dutch dominate cycling and rowing, Koreans in archery and shooting, and Uzbekistan wins almost all its medals in combat sports.
Therefore, it would not be easy for the bold 1 to carry out the appropriate reform, as he would gotta make any arbitrary decision. Otherwise, we are going to have eternal “salvation” from the places in the second tenth, due to the fact that this ends the policy of giving “everyone a little”. In ski jumps on the wave of popularity Smallsa managed to make any continuation, now we should most likely usage success in climbing to permanently appear in this niche sport. In another cases, it is already a bit more difficult, but since the construction of many courts has contributed to more leading Polish tennis players, and aquaparks in all Poland have not brought swimming medals, it may besides be a consequence to improvement directions.
But it is surely worth talking about sports, both school and adult, amateur and professional. Especially in the context of the expansion of the Polish army and the safety of the country. Not by accident many medalists are soldiers of the Polish Army. It is besides easier to have sensible military candidates erstwhile the general public is more athletic. In addition, sports successes increase national pride and sense of identity with their own country, which is besides not without meaning to increase the possible of our country in different areas of life.
