Polish President Andrzej Duda welcomed by IOC President Thomas Bach in Lausanne
International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach welcomed the President of the Republic of Poland, Andrzej Duda, to the IOC in Lausanne on Tuesday. Throughout the visit, President Bach was accompanied by the IOC Member in Poland, Maja Włoszczowska. The two-time Olympic silver medallist and four-time Olympian in mountain biking is a member of the IOC Athletes’ Commission. Also present was the newly elected President of the Polish Olympic Committee, Radosław Piesiewicz.
During their meeting, the IOC President thanked the Polish President for his country’s support for the Olympic Truce resolution for the Olympic and Paralympic Games Paris 2024, which Poland co-sponsored. The resolution was adopted by an overwhelming majority of United Nations (UN) Member States at the recent UN General Assembly.
The resolution “calls upon all Member States to cooperate with the International Olympic Committee and the International Paralympic Committee in their efforts to use sport as a tool to promote peace, dialogue and reconciliation in areas of conflict during and beyond the period of the Olympic and Paralympic Games”. In this context, the two leaders discussed the current geopolitical situation and the impact it is having on sport, with a focus on the Olympic Games Paris 2024.
Signing the IOC’s “Golden Book”, President Duda expressed his thanks for the “warm welcome” to Olympic House and the “constructive conversations”. He said: “I wish you success in promoting the values of the Olympic Movement so that the Games remain a symbol of peace and mutual respect in the spirit of the Olympic Charter.”
When passing the Olympians Wall in Olympic House, President Duda spontaneously introduced the IOC President to Olympian Grzegorz Kiljanek, who competed in canoe slalom at the Olympic Games London 2012 and is now working in the Polish President’s security team. President Bach invited him to sign the Olympians Wall and presented him with an OLY pin.
While touring the Olympic Museum with President Duda, the IOC President highlighted some of the great Polish success stories in Olympic history by presenting a number of items that Olympic athletes from Poland have donated to the Museum. These include the cross-country mountain bike that Maja Włoszczowska rode at her first Olympic Games, Athens 2004; the spikes worn by Irena Szewinska, Olympic 400m champion at Montreal 1976 and the first woman to run the 400m in under 50 seconds; and a glove worn by hammer thrower Anita Wlodarczyk, who has won three out of a possible six Olympic gold medals since the women’s event made its debut in 2000. Also featured were the ski jumping boots of Kamil Stoch, which he was wearing when he became only the third jumper in Olympic history to win both individual events at the same edition of the Games, in 2014 in Sochi.