'Poland must do better in London than Beijing'

Olympic Stadium, London: photo - london2012.co.uk

The haul of three golds, six silver and one bronze in China was an underachievement, says Krzesinski.

“We must do better than four years ago,” Krzesinski told TVP public television.

As far as gold medals is concerned, Krzesinski said that tennis is one target, “It's probably the first time a Polish player has such a great opportunity,” he said. “I mean, of course, Agnieszka Radwanska.”

Radwanska, now ranked fourth in the world by the WTA, is having her best season so far since turning professional with two titles under her belt already this year, in Miami and Dubai.

Another possibility for gold comes in the shape of 2010 World Women's Mountain Bike champion Maja Włoszczowska.

If Poland is to do better than four years ago then it will have to buck a trend which has seen a declining medal haul by Polish athletes since Barcelona 1992.

In Sidney (2000) Poland won six gold medals; in Athens (2004) and Beijing (2008) Poland brought home just three.

The 200-strong Polish Olympic team will be targeting medals in boxing, weights, mountain canoeing, kayaking classic, mountain biking, athletics, swimming, volleyball, fencing, tennis, rowing, wrestling and yachting.

“If we examine the results by Polish athletes at the Olympics in the past 20 years it turns out that we win medals in 12 or 13 sports and the athletes in these disciplines should be looking for opportunities for Polish medals in London,” Adam Krzesinski says. (pg)