Polish athletes prepare for Rio 2016

The programme covers the best Polish athletes – medalists of the previous Olympic Games and World Championships – with the programme specifying the rules under which athletes undertake their preparations and how their performance training is monitored.

Presenting the program in Warsaw, Minister Andrzej Biernat said that judging from the performance of Polish athletes during the 2012 Olympic Games in London, the objectives of the “Poland Club – Rio de Janeiro 2016” are in line with athletes’ expectations.

“Experience from previous [Olympic] games shows us that individual treatment of athletes who are medal hopefuls is the right direction to take, as I cannot imagine that anyone who has classified to be a member of the Poland 2016 Club could ever complain about the lack of money for preparations,” he said.

“We will provide everything without really asking, and presented with cost estimate we will simply cover those costs,” Biernat added.

As many as 32 individual athletes are covered by the programme representing nine Olympic disciplines: judo, kayaking, mountain biking, track-and-field, swimming, weightlifting, rowing, wrestling and sailing.

Currently, it is expected that the athletes should not do worse than during 2012’s London Olympics, when they bagged ten medals and won 148 points in the final classification.

Poland’s biggest hopes are those with a previous track record of winning Olympic gongs, including mountain biker Maja Włoszczowska as well as shot putter Tomasz Majewski. (di/jb)

Source: IAR