The Great Breakthrough After Years of Crisis. What Happened to Polish Boxing?

Looking back at history, the Polish team at the Olympic Games has a great tradition in boxing. Boxing brought 43 medals, which is the second most among Polish Olympism disciplines in the all-time ranking. This included eight gold, nine silver and 26 bronze medals.

Paris 2024: Julia Szeremeta overcomes medal crisis in boxing

Before the 2024 Olympic Games began, Poland last stepped out of the boxing ring a long time ago, in 1992, during the Barcelona Games. The author was Wojciech Bartnik. What’s worse, both Damian Durkacz (with the refereeing scandal in the background) and Mateusz Bereźnicki lost their fights at the start. It became clear that the only hope was Polish boxers, who showed up in a solid group in the French capital.

At the beginning, there were a set of three victories, respectively by Julia Szeremeta (57 kg category), Elżbieta Wójcik (75 kg category) and Aneta Rygielska (66 kg category). Ultimately, the first of the mentioned may be the happiest. Szeremeta, who is only 20 years old, advanced to the semi-finals of the 2024 Olympic Games, which guarantees an Olympic medal – due to the lack of fights for 3rd place in boxing tournaments.

Szeremeta will fight for the final on Wednesday evening (i.e. August 7). The fight between the Pole and the Filipina Nestha Petecio will start at 21:46. The Pole speaks without complexes about winning the full prize pool in Paris, i.e. the hope for Olympic gold. Regardless of the final results, it is extremely important that Polish boxing can once again have its medal moment at the Games after 32 years.

Why is there a crisis in Polish boxing at the Olympic Games?

How is it possible that in the past things were so good in the competition between Polish boxers?

For comparison, we can recall one of the most extraordinary moments in history, during the Tokyo Olympics (1964). On the same day (October 23), Józef Grudzień defeated Wilikton Barannikov in the lightweight category, up to 60 kg. Jerzy Kulej proved to be better than Yevgeny Frolov, in the light welterweight category (63.5 kg). And Marian Kasprzyk in the welterweight category (67 kg), defeating Ricardas Tamulis. The latter, although with a Lithuanian-sounding surname, also fought for the USSR. Only Artur Olech lost the Olympic final, to the Italian Fernando Atzori. In total, the Polish boxing team brought back seven medals from the 1964 Olympics. It was the team of the legendary coach Feliks Stamm.

Times change, however. Today, boxing is not as supported as it was before the so-called systemic transformation. The previous system had many disadvantages, but certainly sports clubs, often under the care of uniformed services – e.g. the police Gwardia and Wisła or the military Legia – could sleep peacefully. And success at the games was considered something that certainly added additional prestige not only to the winners themselves, but also to the aforementioned “guardians”. A kind of praise for what was happening in Poland at that time, however it may sound.

Capitalism brought a crisis, which is visible not only in boxing, but also in wrestling – looking at combat sports. The financing of sports has changed, as has the approach to physical culture. It seems that although there are uniformed units supporting sports, it is still a drop in the ocean of needs. And this is most visible during the Olympic competition, when it turns out that it is not the national system but the work of individuals (including coaches) that constitute the “strength” of Polish sports.