There is nothing more beautiful than representing a country that appreciates, supports and promotes sports,” said Bartosz Kurek on behalf of athletes honored for winning medals at the Olympic Games in Paris. During the ceremony held at the Presidential Palace, Medalists and their trainers were decorated by president Andrzej Duda. Among the winners were 7 soldiers.
President Andrzej Duda, denoting Polish athletes who won Olympic medals at the Paris Games, as well as their trainers with state distinctions, thanked Polish representatives for their sports conflict and beautiful representation of the Republic. Their trainers were thanked "for building players, for building successes, for clever planning, skillful driving". “Thank you very much on behalf of the Republic for having put so much heart and strength into achieving this large success,” said the President. He besides recalled the 10 medals he won and the emotions involved. “We experienced large moments, Mazurek Dąbrowski was played in Paris, we experienced quite a few emotions, we watched extraordinary sports competition. We owe it all to you," Duda stressed.
For outstanding sporting achievements and merit in the activity for the improvement and dissemination of sport, for promoting Poland internationally were awarded: the Commander's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta – ed. and Bartosz Kurek; the Officer's Cross of the Order of the Revival of Poland – S. W. spec. Aleksandra Mirosław and Paweł Zatorski; the Knight's Cross of the Order of the Revival of Poland – Wide. Julia Sheremeta, Mateusz Bieniek, Bartłomiej Bołądź, Tomasz Fornal, Norbert Huber, Marcin Janusz, Łukasz Kaczmarek, Jakub Kochanowski, Wiflredo León and Grzegorz Łomacz and the Golden Cross of Merit – Sgt. Fabian Barański, Sgt. Mateusz Bishop, Sgt. Dominik Czaja, Sgt. Mirosław Ziętarski, Aleksandra Jarecka, Alicia Klasik and Martyna Swatowska-Wenglarczyk.
On the another hand, for outstanding achievements in training and coaching activities, for the contribution to the improvement and dissemination of sport, the president of Poland decorated: with the Commander's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta – Mark Rożej, Officer's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta – Mateusz Mirosław and Aleksandra Wojciechowski, The Knight's Cross of the Order of Polonia Revival – Tomasz Dylak and Grzegorz Ratajczyk and the Knight's Cross of the Order of Merit of Poland – Nikola Grcić.
On behalf of the honored, the captain of the Olympic runner-up squad in the volleyball bartosz Kurek thanked for the awards. – There is nothing more beautiful than representing a country that appreciates, supports and promotes sports. There's nothing more beautiful than being appreciated for your hard work. I warmly congratulate my colleagues on these awards. Despite the fact that our mission “Paris 2024” has come to an end, our mission as sports ambassadors is just beginning, and from this place I can certify on my behalf, and I think that we will all effort to do our best”, said the volleyball player.
During the ceremony, 7 representatives received state awards Central Military Sports Team. president Duda besides gave peculiar thanks to the soldiers. He recalled that Poles have been winning Olympic medals for a 100 years, and the current generation of athletes continues the traditions of the erstwhile 1 and remembers the heroic Olympians. – For me, the final proof of how you approach these cases was that 3 of your colleagues, Olympic medalist, including the gold Olympic medalist, who are besides soldiers of the Polish Army, went immediately after their return from the Olympic Games together with the Minister of National Defence to the Powazkowski Cemetery to bow down and lay flowers on the graves of our Olympians who had already left and were frequently heroes of the fight for the freedom of the Republic. This is what shows who you truly are, how you approach sport, how you approach the performance of your duty, which you have accepted, being representatives of the Republic of Poland, and besides representatives of us all," the president said.
