Page 123 - Olympism in Socialism

school (in the pre-1939 period schoolchildren
were forbidden to join sports clubs), the founding
of the LZS Popular Sports Association which
enabled those living in the countryside to take up
sports activities, and the popularisation of all
sports (in the pre-war years only such
spectacular sports as football and boxing were
properly promoted). Fifteen years after the war, in
1960, Polish sportsmen won more medals at one
Olympiad (23) than they had done in the inter-
war period. At the Rome Olympics Poland
managed to catch up with the world’s top
sportsmen and till today ranks among the best.
Since 1960 in the unofficial team classification of
the Olympic Games, Poland has been placed as
follows: 6th in Rome (behind the USSR, the USA,
the FRG, Italy and Hungary), 7th in Tokyo
(behind the USSR, the USA, the GDR, the FRG,
Hungary and Japan), 8th in Mexico City (behind
the USA, the USSR, the GDR, Hungary,
Yugoslavia, the FRG and Australia), 7th in
Munich (behind the USSR, the USA, the GDR,
Hungary and Japan), and 5th in Montreal
(behind the USSR, the GDR, the USA and the
FRG).
Polish sportsmen have also won much
success in sports items not represented at the
Olympics. This is yet another proof that sports
are developing in a comprehensive way. While
discussing the structure of sports in Poland, one
should begin with describing the mass sports set-
up.

FOUNDATIONS
The year 1867, when the Sokol Sports
Association was established, is regarded as the
year of birth of sports in this country. But it was
not until other sports clubs began springing up
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