Just three years ago, Wojciech Nowicki and Paweł Fajdek did the lap of honour together after the Olympic competition. Then, in Tokyo, Nowicki won, and Fajdek took bronze. Now, neither of them has even come close to the podium.
Watch the video Anita Włodarczyk tested a cardboard bed in the Olympic Village. See how the test went
Already in the first round, the sure-fire favorite Ethan Katzberg decided the competition. The Canadian entered the circle, spun it as if he were a corkscrew opening French wine and swung it for an unimaginable 84.12 meters!
Fajdek and Nowicki’s rival could wear an elegant outfit and watch the competition
The new hammer champion could change his sports outfit for an elegant one after this throw and sit with the Parisians in the stands of the Stade de France. It was clear that he had already won. He kept throwing, but was he fully focused? It is possible that while waiting for the next attempts, he was watching other competitions more than the competition of his colleagues from the throwing ground. There was a lot going on – among others, the 100-meter sprinters and the high jumpers with the world record holder Jaroslava Mahuczich competed. These stars of these competitions attracted 80 thousand fans to the stadium and so many journalists that there were no more seats at their desks.
It was beautiful, but we couldn’t fully enjoy it. We kept looking at the wheel. Line after line passed, and our champions were still far from the podium. From start to finish. After the qualifying rounds, it looked like it was coming. In them, the Poles had ninth and tenth results. Our old bears seemed to be announcing that they would wake up and roar. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out.
Nowicki finished an incredible superseries on Sunday, the likes of which probably no one else in Polish sports has had. Since the beginning of his career, he has taken part in 11 championship events and won 11 medals!
Nowicki and Fajdek together ended an even more impressive series. As representatives of the Polish school of hammer throwing, they ensured us with at least one medal in each major competition after the London 2012 Olympic Games, where the young, 23-year-old Fajdek blew all three attempts in the qualifying rounds.
It’s a shame that something beautiful is ending (especially since Nowicki came to the games with the second best result of the season in the world). It’s a shame that we’re losing another foothold. Three years ago, at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, we had nine track and field medals. It was great, the best in history. Now we expected it to be three times worse – such are the current realities. And it may turn out that they are even sadder for us. Since even the Polish hammer doesn’t reach the podium anymore.
Natalia, you have to! Great pressure on Kaczmarek
On Monday, our greatest hope for a medal in track and field will begin her starts at these games. It is of course Natalia Kaczmarek, running in the 400 meters.
Kaczmarek is in the form of her life, she has broken the 49-second barrier twice this year, something that even Irena Szewińska has never managed. Natalia moved the Polish record of the legend from 49.28 s to 48.90 s. And we know that she can keep pushing it. She – probably the only one – can remind us at the Stade de France of the times of Polish athletics glory. Both the recent ones, from the last Olympics, and those from 1976, when Szewińska, as our biggest star, broke the world record at the Olympics in Montreal – the aforementioned 49.28 s.
And the hammer? We still have Anita Włodarczyk left at these games. The finals on Tuesday (8 p.m.). What can we count on? The three-time Olympic champion was 12th in the qualifying rounds, which means she entered the finals with the last result. Anita announces that she can do much more, that she throws solidly and properly in training. We wish her a medal with all our hearts. But looking at her, and not just at Nowicki and Fajdek, we see that something is coming to an end.
