GOLD-WINTER OLYMPICS IN SOCHI

“Hot. Cool. Gold-Winter Olympics in Sochi in the eyes of the Poles.”

The end. The Olympic flame was extinguished and the Winter Olympics in Sochi passed into history. More than two weeks of struggling, which provided us with unforgettable emotions and a lot of joy. Time to make a summary. What were the Olympic Games for Polish people ?

In total, we have accumulated about 10 chances to medal. That's a lot, considering the fact that in the history of the Winter Olympic Games our team had gained a few medals. All the experts were confident that our players will compete in Sochi to get the highest goals. Among the athletes who could make a surprise at the Olympics there was also mentioned Karolina Riemen - Żerebecka, who specializes in ski-cross.

Beautiful Winter Games began on February 7 and ended seventeen days later. On thefirst day of Olympic struggles we had a good chance to get a medal. Eighth day of February, in the race combined for 15 kilometers, started Polish queen of cross-country  -Justyna Kowalczyk. Unfortunately, that day we could not enjoy the first Olympic disc. Justyna took sixth place, which can be considered as a success due to the fact that Polish cross-country participant had her foot broken. Another day and a great joy in Poland. Ski jumping competition on standard  hill - Kamil Stoch  won the gold medal - the third in the history of  Poland and the first at the Olympic Games . He won it indisputably. He defeated his rivals by a wide margin, and deservedly a day later he was able to pick up the gold medal at the Olympic Park and listen to the national anthem.

For the next medal in Sochi we  were waiting only four days, but it was worth it. During the run for 10 km classic technique Justyna Kowalczyk has shown the will to fight and was Olympic champion. That situation should not be surprising, because the classical style and distance, at which Justyna was running,  was her favorite and if she could dream of gold at the Olympics, it was that race! Kowalczyk won thanks to style - beating rivals with a huge advantage. You can tell that rivals have to deal with Kowalczyk, because Justyna actually knocked out her opponents.

At that point, we had two Olympic gold medals, which is what our athletes had won during the previous 90 years. But this is not the end of a beautiful dream of Olympic. The best day before coming. Saturday 15 February passed into the history of Polish sport. That day we won two gold medals in the history of performances at the Olympic Games, both summer and winter , the days can be counted on the fingers of one hand . First, Zbigniew Bródka - a firefighter from a small village in the south of Poland- overtook the Dutch speed skating star - Koen Verweij of 0.003 seconds and won the first medal for the men's speed skaters. Dutchman (for a long time) could not accept to be defeated and insulted our contestant because speed skating in the Netherlands is the national sport and the silver medal in the Olympic Games is treated as a huge lose.

 Beautiful day, however, had not finished. In the evening, on the large hill, Kamil Stoch “jumped” another gold medal at the Olympic Games. Double Olympic gold before him had been won only by two people - Matti Nykaenen and Simon Amman. Kamil Stoch made the history, not only of Polish sport , but also the world’s. Over the next days we did not have a big hope for Olympic medals, because our players competed not too often. On the last Saturday of winter struggle we again experienced great emotions and moments of joy. That day our team in speed skating, male and female, won their medals. Men group, composed by Zbigniew Bródka, Jan Szymański and Konrad Niedźwiedzki, after the victory over Canada won bronze. Women, in the composition of Katarzyna Bachleda - Curuś, Katarzyna Woźniak, Luiza Złotkowska and Natalia Czerwonka, won Olympic runners, yielding only great  team from the Netherlands. In total, at the Winter Olympics in Sochi Polish group gained six medals: four gold, one silver and one bronze. We are really proud of them :)

Mateusz Kowalski