40th Anniversary Poll for the 10 Most Outstanding Athletes with Disabilities

Ryszard Tomaszewski: “It’s like a crowning achievement of our sporting career and our lives. Each of us had it differently in our lives, sometimes better, sometimes worse. For these few moments, we forgot about it all. It doesn’t matter what place anyone took in this poll, but the most important thing is that we could be ourselves here. This is a great thing.”

 

In the final ten
are:

• MaÅ‚gorzata Olejnik – archery

• Krystyna Owczarczyk?
  athletics

• MirosÅ‚aw Owczarek ? swimming

• Natalia Partyka – table tennis

• Dariusz Pender – fencing

• Katarzyna Rogowiec – skiing, biathlon

• Jerzy SzlÄ™zak – athletics,
  cross-country skiing, biathlon

• Krzysztof ÅšlÄ™czka ? swimming

• Ryszard Tomaszewski –
  athletics, weightlifting

• Waldemar Kikolski – athletics

 

The top ten received Sedek – Justice statuettes and Per aspera ad astra (Through hardship to the stars/success) medals, while the remaining athletes received commemorative Per aspera ad astra medals.

 

Polish disabled athletes
won 736 medals in the Summer and Winter
Paralympic Games between 1972 and 2012:

– 266 zlotys,

– 247 silver,

– 223 brown.