The six Polish swimmers will not appear at the Olympics because of a mistake that the Polish Pywacking Association made when registering competitors. Athletes flew to Tokyo but had to leave. It is about Mateusz Chowac, Jan Kozakiewicz, Jakub Krask, Paulin Ped, Aleksandr Polask and Alicja Tchrz. Ultimately, the federation agreed that three of them would replace three swimmers with the right to start, to allow Poles to field relay in the Olympic competition.
– It all requires a deep analysis. I am considering setting up a commission in connection. If there is will, involving one of the injured players and one coach. In order to share all communication, document flows. There is absolutely no handwashing here. Transparency in this matter is the most important thing for me and the management board. I cannot leave it without in-depth analysis and explanation. As a result, specific persons were involved in matters related to the qualification for the Games – Pawe Somiski, the head of PZP, said in an interview with Sport.pl.
In response to the scandalous situation, the swimmers published an open letter in which they demanded the resignation of the president and the entire board of the union. “At this point, the least important for us are the assurances about the appointment of a commission to investigate who is to blame. Neither will it help us, nor will it allow us to forget about the dreams that have been taken away. It will not heal the Polish dance, either. headed by the president. We appeal to you and the entire board to take responsibility for the situation and resign immediately, without waiting for elections “- we read in the letter. A total of twelve swimmers signed it.
“FINA admonished PPL three times, already in Japan “
He told more about the whole situation in an interview with WP SportoweFakty Jan Kozakiewicz. – The Polish Pywacking Association entered our six for the individual competition, I think it is like it was still in Rio de Janeiro. There with a minimum of B could be started individually. But now you also need an invitation from FINA. Only Kacper Stokowski will get them. In the case of other people, the union will not receive a reply, so unless it thinks that the lack of a reply equals the lack of a counterindication, the Polish swimmer admits.
– The second problem is that if a national team is reporting five relays, it can have all ten people in them on a “relay only” basis. We had too many of these people. FINA she admonished PZP three times, already in Japan, when we were analyzing all the possibilities, I saw the e-mail communication myself. No one from the PZP mentioned it, did not react, so the third time people from the world federation simply deleted all the names that had been entered incorrectly, that is to individual competition only with a minimum of B. And so our six names fell from the list. – he will add.
As Kozakiewicz admitted, from the moment they were informed that they would not be able to take part in the Olympic competition, they did almost everything they could to uncover the whole confusion. – Since the entry letter for the competition was published without our six names, we have had 48 hours to appeal. The PZP wrote them absurdly wrong. Instead of admitting it was wrong, because it was our relationship that showed a vulgar stranger to the rules, it tried to blame FINA. The first response to the appeal was refusal – she betrayed.
– Finally, FINA and the IOC asked them to ask and let the PZP replace three players. He will not restore, but replace, because there is such a rule that there may be 878 swimmers at the Olympics, not one more. Thanks to this exchange, our relays will be able to start. If it were not for this, an unprecedented situation would arise – the track at the Olympic pool would be empty – said Kozakiewicz.
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