Poland’s international regatta
venue, Malta Rowing Lake, is
located close to the city centre of
Poznan.
The 2009 World Rowing Championships
highlighted Poland on the world rowing
map. The Polish federation successfully
staged the championships in Poznan,
scored their best medal count ever at a
World Championship regatta, and made a
breakthrough in women’s rowing, winning
their first world title in a female Olympic
boat class, the women’s double sculls.
Ryszard Stadniuk, president of the Polish Rowing
Federation. “They [athletics] sent about 80 athletes
and banked two medals, we only sent 20 rowers
and banked the same number of medals. This
made rowing more popular.”
Polish rowing has become increasingly successful
over the years. The country’s first Olympic gold
in rowing, won at the 2000 Games in Sydney by
lightweights Robert Sycz and Tomasz Kucharski,
sparked the rise of Polish rowing. In Athens four
years later, the lightweight double won again and
another three Polish crews raced in the finals of
the Olympic Regatta. Sycz and Kucharski did not
compete in Beijing, but the baton had been passed
on, and not only did Poland win another Olympic
gold, this time in the men’s quadruple sculls, but
also a silver in the lightweight men’s four.
According to Stadniuk, the increasing level of
performance of Polish rowing is related
to a number of factors: “Thanks to always
better results, we receive a larger budget
from the government which enables us to
have a wider group of rowers and achieve
better results, and so the ball rolls.” The federation
has also changed its coaching philosophy:
“We now also keep our coaches and don’t
change after each bad result as it was
the case in the past,” says Stadniuk.
“We think that if they make a
mistake, they’ll learn from it and
won’t repeat it.” Observing other
countries and how they work
is also a learning opportunity,
says Stadniuk, but at the root
of their success lays a pool of
talented rowers. >
Julia Michalska (r) and Magdalena
Fularczyk of Poland won the overall
2009 Rowing World Cup series in
the women’s double sculls before
going on to become the World
Champions on their home waters
in Poznan, Poland, that
same year.
“With our two medals [in Beijing], we became
the second sport in Poland after athletics,” says
