Leisure and sport
Poland - Leisure, Entertainment and Sports
Theatre, cinema and musical festivals are favourite forms of leisure in Poland, with visits to art galleries and museums also being very popular among Polish people. There are many cultural and music festivals held throughout the country, particularly during the summer months. Street theatre and open air concerts are common in Warsaw, Krakow and the other cities. All tastes in music are covered, from jazz to classical. Warsaw is home to internationally-acclaimed theatre groups, opera and ballet companies and the National Philharmonia, and also hosts the annual Polish film festival.
Sports are also very popular in Poland, with many international sports competitions being held in the country, including athletics and boxing. Soccer is extremely very popular both as a spectator and participant sport. Cycling is one of Poland's more traditional leisure and sports pastimes, particularly in the northern lakes region. Sailing and canoeing are also popular pursuits in this region.
Tourism is increasingly popular in Poland, with visitors particularly attracted by the country's very rich cultural and historical heritage, and its many festivals.
Poland's sports include almost all sporting disciplines, in particular: volleyball, football (the most popular sport) and motorcycle speedway, ski jumping, track & field, basketball, boxing, fencing, rugby union, field hockey, handball, ice hockey, swimming and weightlifting. The first Polish Formula One driver, Robert Kubic has brought awareness of Formula One Racing to Poland. Volleyball is one of country's most popular sports with a rich history of international competition. Poland has made a distinctive mark in motorcycle speedway racing thanks to Tomasz Gollob, Jaroslaw Hampel and Rune Holta. Speedway is very popular in Poland, and the Polish Extraleague has the highest average attendances for any sport in Poland. The Polish mountains are an ideal venue for hiking, skiing and mountain biking and attract millions of tourists every year from all over the world. Cross country skiing and ski jumping are popular TV sports, gathering 4–5 million viewers each competition, with Justyna Kowalczyk and Kamil Stoch as the main attractions. Baltic beaches and resorts are popular locations for fishing, canoeing, kayaking and a broad-range of other water-themed sports.
Polish Representantion in Football
Polish ski jumpers
Kamil Wiktor Stoch
Polish pronunciation:[ˈkamil stɔx]; born 25 May 1987) is a Polish ski jumper. He is one of the most successful ski jumpers from Poland, as well as in the history of the sport, having won two overall World Cuptitles, two consecutive Four Hills Tournaments, three individual gold medals at the Winter Olympics, individual and team gold at the Ski Jumping World Championships, and individual silver at the Ski Flying World Championships. His other tournament wins include the Raw Air, Willingen Five, and Planica7.
Stoch is only the second ski jumper in history, after Sven Hannawald, to win the "grand slam" of all four competitions in a single Four Hills Tournament. In 2018, at age 30, Stoch became the oldest individual Olympic gold medallist and World Cup titlist in the history of ski jumping. He was voted Polish Sportspersonality of the Year in 2014 and 2017.
Adam Henryk Małysz ([ˈadam ˈmawɨʂ]
( listen); born 3 December 1977) is a Polish former ski jumper and rally driver. In ski jumping he competed from 1995 to 2011, and is one of the most successful athletes in the history of the sport. His many accomplishments include four World Cup titles (a record shared with Matti Nykänen and Sara Takanashi), four individual Winter Olympic medals, four individual World Championship gold medals (an all-time record), 39 individual World Cup competition wins, 96 World Cup podiums (individual and team), and being the only ski jumper to win three consecutive World Cup titles. He is also a winner of the Four Hills Tournament, the only three-time winner of the Nordic Tournament, and a former ski flying world record holder.
After retiring from ski jumping, Małysz competed in the Dakar Rally in 2012, 2013 and 2014 finishing 37th,[1] 15th[2] and 13th[3] respectively. He currently acts as a director-coordinator of ski jumping and Nordic combined at the Polish Ski Federation[4]
