A correspondence sports duel between Szczecin and Lublin. Ambitions, dreams, and golden DNA.

On Saturday, there will be a match in the Ekstraklasa between Pogoń Szczecin and Motor Lublin, and this is a good opportunity to write about how impressive the city of our football rival presents itself on the sports map of Poland and compare it to the achievements of players from the city of Gryf.

In terms of population, Szczecin ranks 7th in the country (387,000), while Lublin comes in 8th (328,000). In terms of area, Gryf is the third largest city in the country (over 300 km²), while Lublin ranks a distant 147.5 km², far behind even Świnoujście.

Olympic medals and scandals

In sports, at the Paris Olympics, Poland's only gold medal was won in the speed climbing category by a Lublin native, Aleksandra Mirosław (Kotłownia Lublin), who is also a two-time world champion and world record holder. At the Paris Olympics, silver was won by boxer Julia Szeremeta (Paco Lublin), who lost on points to Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan in the final. However, the Lublin club athlete is now hoping to win the Olympic title, as her final opponent is still undergoing tests to determine whether she is… a man. But why weren't such tests performed before the competition? This is not the only embarrassment for the International Olympic Committee in France, as during the opening ceremony of the games, Christian symbols were desecrated, and at the end of the Olympic competition, where Sheremeta was the standard-bearer of the Polish team, athletes from Russia were invited, despite the fact that this country attacked Ukraine, bombs cities and villages, and even kills, tortures and kidnaps children, for which Putin is wanted by the European Arrest Warrant...

Looking at the results of Lublin's Olympians, it's no surprise that the 26th Olympic Picnic, a celebration of sport, passion, and the spirit of fair play, the largest sports and recreational event in Poland, held its first appearance in Lublin on the beautiful grounds of the Lublin University of Technology, of which Aleksandra Mirosław is a graduate, among others, took place a month ago. Nearly 60 Polish Olympic medalists attended the event, which entertained thousands of fans throughout the day, and the organizers had prepared a host of sporting attractions for everyone. The picnic began with a spectacular arrival of the greatest stars of Polish sport in a double-decker, open-top bus. Each medalist disembarking was personally greeted by the democratically elected Radosław Piesiewicz, a rebellious activist with a strong opinion who had previously done much for Polish volleyball. Let us return to competitive sports and Lublin-Szczecin comparisons, and here we must unfortunately admit that the Olympians from the town of Gryf did not bring a single medal from Paris.

World champion born in Szczecin

Fans are most interested in team sports, and speedway also has that status, and the Polish league is among the best in the world! And this sport is most popular in Lublin, where Motor once again won the Polish championship, with its star, multiple individual and team world champion Bartosz Zmarzlik, who lives in the West Pomeranian village of Kinice and was born in Szczecin. Motor Speedway is a separate entity from the football team, but there's also a common thread, as the speedway team plays its matches in a former football stadium, from which the players moved to the modern Arena Lublin. Speedway matches in Lublin are usually overbooked, and purchasing tickets is no easy feat. In Szczecin, the sport has little popularity, although many residents of our city regularly travel to Stal Gorzów matches, and this number is growing, while passenger cars are already being replaced by buses. When the president of Szczecin's Pogoń Szczecin was speedway fanatic Les Gondor, he planned to create a speedway section in the club from Twardowski, but the scarfists torpedoed this initiative, fearing that the footballers would soon be overshadowed by the speedway riders.

(mij)