Words and concepts may change in time, and this has certainly been the case with the term handicap. From the establishment of modern sports in the middle of the 19th century and up until the middle of the 20th century, handicap had an entirely different meaning within sports. Thus, handicap was understood as a disadvantage imposed on talented contestants to make the competition more equal in sports. Later the term handicap became much closer related to the concepts invalid and crippled than to concept originally employed within sports, With the gradual introduction of the welfare state measures to the political agenda the politicians in Denmark also started to take an interest in invalids and cripples and in 1925 the National Association of the Crippled and Maimed was founded. By the end of the 20 century the term crippled was seen by many as outdated and in 1988 the name was changed to the Danish Association for the Disabled (Dansk Handicap Forbund) and already in 1971 this organization helped to found The Danish Disabled Sports Association (Dansk Handicap Idræts-Forbund). The article tells the story of how the concept of handicap, which originally was an aim to provide equal opportunities, today has become a synonym for disability, while in the Paralympics and competitive disability sports, the original sports term handicap has been replaced by classification.
So far, in the history of the modern Summer Olympic Games, the event has not been organized only three times – due to World Wars – in 1916 (6th Olympic Games), 1940 (12th Olympic Games), and 1944 (13th Olympic Games). For the first time in its 124-year history, the International Olympic Committee decided (on March 24, 2020) to postpone the Games to the following year due to the pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The 32nd Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 were held between July 23 and August 8, 2021, in a strict sanitary regime. The purpose of this paper is: to present the academic status of athletes – students and graduates of the University of Szczecin – who participated of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020; to present key sports achievement to-date of these athletes; to analyze the sports results obtained by them in athletics in the context of medals won at the 32nd Olympic Games. The Polish Olympic team who participated in Tokyo 2020 included three athletes (runners), associated with the University of Szczecin: Patryk Dobek – 800 m run, Marcin Lewandowski – 1,500 m run, and Adam Nowicki – marathon. The coaching staff of Polish athletes included another graduate of the University of Szczecin, Jacek Kostrzeba. Additionally, Marek Kolbowicz, PhD – an employee of the Institute of Physical Culture Sciences at the Faculty of Health and Physical Culture of the University of Szczecin (INoKF WKFiZ US) – acted as a TV commentator/rowing expert. WKFiZ US’ student – Patryk Dobek – won a bronze medal in the 800 m run, which was an unexpected surprise in the Polish Olympic team.
Balancing sports practice at the highest world level with university education is a difficult – but feasible – task. An example of such skilful balance are some graduates of the Higher Pedagogical School in Szczecin, University of Szczecin, majoring in Physical Education, who graduated from the university with a successfully defended Master's thesis while being active athletes. The aim of this paper is: to present current students of the Faculty of Physical Culture and Health Promotion of the University of Szczecin (WKFiPZ US) and a graduate of the Institute of Physical Culture of the Faculty of Natural Sciences at the University of Szczecin (IKF WNP US) as potential candidates of various disciplines for the 32nd Summer Olympic or 16th Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020; to show their sports achievements in previous Olympic and Paralympic Games; to present the indicators and qualification rules that the analysed athletes must follow to represent Poland in the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020. The study involved a group of seven athletes, current students of the University of Szczecin, Faculty of Physical Culture and Health Promotion: Patryk Dobek, Michał Gadowski, Marcin Lewandowski, Piotr Lisek, Katarzyna Mądrowska, Paulina Woźniak, Krystian Zalewski and one graduate of the Institute of Physical Culture of the Faculty of Natural Sciences of the University of Szczecin, Anna Harkowska. All of them are members of the national Polish team in their respective sport disciplines. They compete in their respective sports disciplines in which they strive for qualifying standards which guarantee a start in the 32nd Summer Olympic or the 16th Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020. Piotr Lisek has the best chance of winning a medal in Tokyo in pole vault, as well as the following disabled athletes: Anna Harkowska in cycling, Michał Gadowski in rowing, and Paulina Woźniak in swimming. Marcin Lewandowski – a titled European medallist in the 800 m race will probably compete in his fourth Summer Olympics Tokyo 2020 (he participated in 2008, 2012, and 2016) and this time will fight for the best place amongst the finalist in the 1,500 m race.
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