Death of a legendary coach. A huge loss for Polish sport

Tadeusz Osik was born in 1950 in Trzcianka, where he graduated from the Automotive Technical Secondary School. Later he came to Poznań – first he completed military service there, and later he graduated from the Academy of Physical Education.

In his youth, he was involved in hurdle running, among other things, and competed for Poznań clubs – Energetyka and Olimpia. He remained loyal to the latter association after the end of his playing career, being a coach at Olimpia from 1978.

From 1996 he worked as a coach of the national team, in 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012 he was called up to the Polish Olympic team. He was an academic lecturer, co-author of studies on sprint training. He held the position of head of sprint block training, and in the years 2016-2024 he sat on the board of the Polish Athletics Association.

Tadeusz Osik is dead. A huge loss for Polish sport

Over the years, he has cooperated with dozens of Polish sprinters. The creator of many successes of our speed runners at championship events. He was a man extremely devoted to athletics, including at the local level in Greater Poland.

“His name was inextricably linked with the Polish sprint and 4 × 100 meters relay. He raised and led athletes who represented Poland on the world’s largest arenas. His pupils included Marcin Urbaś, Ryszard Pilarczyk, Marcin Jędrusiński, Łukasz Chyła, Przemysław Rogowski, Robert Kubaczyk, Kamil Masztak, Artur Zaczek, Jakub Adamski, Remigiusz Olszewski, Adam Pawłowski, Eryk Hampel, Marta Jeschke, Daria Korczyńska and Kamila Ciba. However, his contributions went far beyond the results of individual athletes. Tadeusz Osik co-created the training system for Polish athletics, sharing the experience gained over decades of work, from training young people to preparing players for the most important events in the world,” we read on the website of the Greater Poland Athletics Association.

His substantive knowledge in the training area was widely respected. He has been awarded many times for his work with youth, awarded the golden honorary badge of the Polish Athletics Association and the Order of Polish Athletics.

Tadeusz Osik died at the age of 76.