Ministerstwo Sportu i Turystyki Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej

Ministerstwo Sportu i Turystyki Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej

Ministerstwo Sportu i Turystyki
Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej
“Poland Club” (Klub Polska) – new strategy for Olympic preparations
2010-05-20
On May 19th, 2010, i.e. 800 days before the opening of the London
2012 Olympics, Adam Giersz, Minister of Sport and Tourism,
presented a new Olympic Preparations strategy, entitled ‘Poland
Club’. The objective of the project is to maximize the medal potential
in Olympic sports for Poland.
Like the new Sports Act, “Poland Club” is a major step designed to change Polish sport.
- The new project of the Ministry of Sport and Tourism aims at channelling public funds into
the training of the most outstanding and talented athletes – said minister Adam Giersz. – Until
recently, we had been financing so called Olympic preparation programmes. In its initial
phase, such a programme would cover almost a thousand athletes and would subsequently
be narrowed down to a group of 200 people comprising the national Olympic team. With the
new approach, we select the elite of Polish sports at an earlier stage, ensuring that they
prepare for the Olympics in the best possible conditions. However, we also want to make
sure that we have a say on how the individual preparation projects are managed.
Since the Barcelona Olympics, there was a downward trend in the number of medals won by
Polish athletes. The trend was stopped in 2008 in Beijing and now, in 2010, the Ministry of
Sport and Tourism is launching a new project called ‘Poland Club’ that will change Olympic
preparation methods with a view to reversing this trend.
Olympics sports are a priority for the Ministry of Sport and Tourism. As much as 90% of the
funds granted by the Ministry to sports associations are funds for the support of Olympic
sports. Until now, the funding system was based on historical budget data, i.e. each sports
association would receive the same amount as in the previous year, increased by the inflation
rate.
The new approach changes the rules regarding the funding of top athletes. Funds are to be
spent more effectively and allocated in a way that makes the best of our medal-winning
potential and that ensures that money goes to those athletes who represent greatest medal
opportunities. This system was already tested in the run-up to the Vancouver Olympics, when
Poland’s best winter athletes, Justyna Kowalczyk, Adam Małysz and Tomasz Sikora were
funded using the new concept.
Individual training programmes for the London 2010 Olympics have been offered to those
athletes who won Olympic medals in Beijing, as well as to medallists of last year’s world
championships. At present the group includes 32 sportsmen and women, representing 8
sports and 18 events. The programme is open in the sense that the line-up of the group my
change depending on the results achieved by the athletes and on how the tasks planned for
the various stages of the preparations are implemented.
The project will not necessarily be limited to a narrow group of 32 athletes. On the contrary, it
is open to the participation of other talented athletes who will be offered individual training
opportunities. The Ministry’s intention is that sportsmen and women with outstanding talent
and potential for winning Olympic medals prepare in the best possible conditions.
The practical implementation of the programme is coordinated by the Scientific and
Methodological Support Team headed by Sebastian Chmara. There is also a five-member
methodology group headed by Paweł Słomiński. The medical coordinator is Jarosław
Krzywański of the National Centre for Sports Medicine, and the scientific coordinator is
Dariusz Sitkowski supported by a group of scientists from the Institute of Sports. The team
also includes an IT expert.
Using project-oriented management, the team will monitor the implementation of the
preparation plans, support the training process and collect programme implementation data.
The team will not only monitor the members of “Poland Club”, but also pre-select athletes for
the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympics. The team employs methodologists, practitioners,
physicians and sports diagnosticians who use their extensive knowledge and a specially
designed statistical research programme to assess athletes’ eligibility for membership in the
exclusive “Poland Club”.
List of sportsmen and women covered by the “Poland Club” programme as of May 19th, 2010
Name and surname
Sport
Event
Head coach
Allocation of
funds
Aneta Konieczna
Flatwater
canoeing
K-2 500m
Dariusz Bresiński
500 000
Wiesław Rakowski
500 000
Maja Włoszczowska
Cycling
MTB – Cross
Andrzej Piątek
620 000
Tomasz Majewski
Track and field
shot put
Henryk Olszewski
4 024 050
Piotr Małachowski
discus throw
Witold Suski
Anita Włodarczyk
hammer throw
Krzysztof Kaliszewski
Anna Rogowska
pole vault
Jacek Torliński
Monika Pyrek
pole vault
Wiaczesław Kaliniczenko
Szymon Ziółkowski
hammer throw
Krzysztof Kaliszewski
Kamila Chudzik
heptathlon
Sławomir Nowak
Sylwester Bednarek
high jump
Lech Krakowiak
Beata Mikołajczyk
Paweł Korzeniowski
Swimming
200m butterfly
Robert Białecki
500 000
Szymon Kołecki
Weightlifting
94 kg category
Ivan Grikurovi
500 000
Marcin Dołęga
Danuta Dmowska
105 kg category
Mirosław Choroś
500 000
Fencing
team epee
Mariusz Kosman
1 400 000
Rowing
quad scull
Aleksander Wojciechowski
5 200 000
lightweight coxless four
sweep
Aleksander Wojciechowski
Magdalena Piekarska
Ewa Nelip
Małgorzata Bereza
Mchał Jeliński
Marek Kolbowicz
Adam Korol
Konrad Wasielewski
Miłosz Bernatajtys
Łukasz Pawłowski
Paweł Rańda
substituted for Pawełczak
at World Championships
Bartłomiej Pawełczak
Łukasz Siemion
Juli Michalska
double scull
Marcin Witkowski
lightweight double scull
Przemysław Abrahamczyk
Magdalena Fularczyk
Magdalena Kemnitz
Agnieszka Renc
Agnieszka Wieszczek
Wrestling
72 kg category
Jan Godlewski
340 000
32 athletes
8 sports
18 events
20 coaches
14 084 050