Posted on 09/19/2004 1:23:12 PM PDT by Grzegorz 246
For the first time in history, Poland organized the Summer Grand Prix (SGP) ski jumping competition. The success was compound: Adam Malysz was again the winner this summer, and Zakopane reported a new spectator record.
The SGP, an equivalent of the winter World Cup, is a prestigious event. For the first time this year, the International Skiing Federation (FIS) entrusted the organization of SGP's two competitions to Poland. In Zakopane Sept. 4 and 5, on the Wielka Krokiew hill, newly covered with a special PVC surface, the individual and team competitions took place.
"Zakopane won the contest for the organization of the Summer Grand Prix with Bischofshofen and Kranje. We sought the honor for the first time because we covered Wielka Krokiew with PVC only recently. Our success in being granted the right to organize the event testifies to the great confidence FIS places in us, which results from successes during our winter competitions," says Pawe³ W³odarczyk, Polish Skiing Union (PZN) president.
The ski jump was covered with PVC in a record time of 58 days. The investment was financed with Totalizator Sportowy lottery funds and amounted to 1 million euros. The viewing area for the audience was also enlarged. Plans provide for further investments, designed to enhance the already high prestige of competitions organized in the capital of the Polish Tatra Mountains, and to improve infrastructure in the vicinity of the hill: new locker rooms for skiers, a new inn and sanitary facilities are expected to be ready for the Winter Cup. Moreover, a pavilion will be built with 20 state-of-the-art commentator booths and two conference rooms.
Top international skiers attended the SGP in Poland, including athletes from Austria, Germany and Japan. Representatives of less titled countries, such as Belarus and Kazakhstan, also competed. The opening ceremony was accompanied by fireworks, dances by highlanders in traditional costumes, and a presentation of Harley-Davidson motorcycles featuring flags of all the countries participating in the competition.
The event's organization was appreciated by Walter Hofer, the head of the FIS, who visited Zakopane with his family. The competitors repeated their satisfaction with the unique atmosphere accompanying the competitions under the Giewont Mountain. "This kind of audience doesn't exist anywhere else in the world. Zakopane competitions are unforgettable, regardless of your score," stressed one of the most experienced and titled Austrian jumpers, Andreas Widhoelzl.
Zakopane broke the SGP spectator record: the Saturday evening competition was watched by 28,000 fans. The former record belonged to Germany's Hinterzarten, with an audience of about 15,000. The SGP's success in Zakopane was crowned with the individual triumph of Ma³ysz Sept. 4-the champ's third success this summer, after wins in Hinterzarten and Courchevel, France.
"I have never been so nervous," said Malysz. "A few days before the competition, I inquired how many tickets had been sold and they told me 10,000. What I saw in the stands scared me a little, I felt overcome because I did not want to let the fans down. Every now and then somebody came up and told me: 'We believe in you, you have to win, you are the best.' So, expectations were running high and I wanted very much to live up to them. I am happy that the fans' hopes were fulfilled. If I hadn't stood on the podium, that would have been my failure-after all, I am at home, this is our audience, which came to see a Pole win."
Comments are circling that Malysz is in a similar form to the one which won him the first two grand prizes. "When Adam won the Summer Grand Prix in 2001, he subsequently also won the winter World Cup," recollects Apoloniusz Tajner, the former coach of the Polish national team, now sports captain at PZN.
Time will tell if history repeats itself, but Malysz isn't resting on his laurels: Sept. 8 he triumphed again in the competition in Val di Fiemme, Italy. In the team competition, the Polish team-defending its third position from Hinterzarten-finished sixth out of a total of 14 starting teams.
With snow is a lot better IMO.
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