Are tycoons jealous of Poland’s money? The star of the games without medal awards

We have already written about the historic feat achieved by Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo in separate texts in WPROST during the 2026 Winter Olympics. The Norwegian ski runner consistently implemented his plan. Ultimately, he left the Italian Peninsula with six(!) gold medals. And in his entire career, he has 11 such medals, plus silver and bronze, which gives him a total of thirteen winter Olympic medals. There is no better athlete in the history of the Olympic Games than the Norwegian.

Giant prizes for medalists. Are tycoons jealous of Poland’s awards?

In the medal classification of the Winter Winter Olympics 2026, Norway turned out to be the best among all participants. This is not a special surprise, after all, we are talking about a real winter tycoon.

Ultimately, Norway won a total of 41 medals. This included: 18 gold, 12 silver and 11 bronze.

Interestingly, after Klaebo’s successes, the issue of awards for medalists and what it looks like in Norway was raised. And here’s a surprise, at least in the Polish context, because the Norwegian grandmaster – like other medalists – will not receive financial bonuses for his successes in the country.

It turns out that money from the Norwegian Olympic Committee (NOK) is spent on developing young talents and supporting less-financed sports in the country. The medalists receive a sports scholarship of EUR 15,000 per year. And this is regardless of how many times and on what podiums they stood during the games.

As reported on the Eurosport website, similar rules apply in Finland. The Scandinavians even… envy Poland the amount of medal awards offered by the Polish Olympic Committee. It is worth adding that Kacper Tomasiak can count on money of around EUR 300,000 for the three medals won at the 2026 Winter Olympics.

And it’s just a matter of finances – we published detailed calculations just after the successes of the 19-year-old ski jumper.

Winter Winter 2026: Four Olympic medals for the Polish team

The Games on the Apennine Peninsula were quite successful for the Polish team. Looking at the medal achievements, this is the best performance of the Olympic team in red and white colors in over 12 years.

Medals for the Polish national team during the 2026 Winter Olympics were won mainly by ski jumpers. One of them, a 19-year-old Olympic debutant – Kacper Tomasiak – won three of them. The leader of coach Maciej Maciusiak’s team was silver on the normal hill, bronze on the large hill in Predazzo and again the Olympic vice-champion in the duet competition. In the latter case, Paweł Wąsek formed a two-person team with Tomasiak.

We also cannot forget about the first medal for Polish men at the Winter Olympics since 2014. Vladimir Semirunniy reached for it. “Władek” became the Olympic vice-champion in the 10 km distance.

In its history of participation in the Winter Olympics, the Polish team has won a total of 27 medals – seven gold, ten silver and ten bronze, respectively. Interestingly, the first bronze medal for Poland was won by Franciszek Gąsienica-Groń (Nordic combined) almost exactly 70 years ago, during the Olympic Games in… Cortina d’Ampezzo. This year, history has come full circle in a beautiful Italian-Polish Olympic circle.

Speaking of history, another special story happened during Winter Olympics 2026. Namely, Klaudia Adamek was the first in the history of Polish Olympism to take part in both the summer and winter games. A former athlete and participant of the Olympic Games in Tokyo (2021) in the 4×100 meters relay, she completed the Olympic set by starting in Italy (2026) in the bobsled doubles.