Winter Paralympics 'perfectly organized,' says Polish Paralympic president

WARSAW -- President of the Polish Paralympic Committee, Lukasz Szeliga, has hailed China for both the perfect organization of the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympic Games and the huge success of the Chinese athletes in the competitions.

"The Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympic Games was a show of full professionalism of the organizers. Absolutely not a single bad word can be said about the organization, the venues, the competition, the logistics and so on. I'm really impressed with the organizational and logistic solutions which were prepared by China for the Winter Paralympic Games," the president said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua.

Szeliga said that the Chinese athletes, who ended their home Paralympics top of the medal table with 18 golds, 20 silvers and 23 bronzes, proved that they have made huge progress in recent years.

"The stunning performance of Chinese athletes seemed to be an icing on the cake for the hosts," he said.

"In PyeongChang, four years earlier, China took just one medal, while in Beijing they won 61 medals. They claimed over 25 percent of all medals at the Paralympic Games. It is unbelievable and impossible to do in any country in the world except China. When I was making a forecast ahead of the Winter Games, I was the man who predicted that it is impossible to prepare the team in a few years in Alpine competitions. I made a mistake," Szeliga laughed.

Poland did not win any medals at the Beijing Paralympics. One of Poland's highlights was Iweta Faron ending up in fifth place in the para-biathlon, and another fifth place for para cross-country skier Witold Skupien.

"Two fifth places achieved by our athletes are very good results. Of course we believed in winning at least one medal, but you know, it is sport. You should accept losses and draw conclusions from failures. Four years is a short time to prepare for the next Winter Paralympic Games in Italy. For sure in Poland we miss the background. I mean the athletes with quality who would be close to the best in the country," the head of the Polish Paralympic Committee explained.

"The safety rules applied by China were amazing. They hosted the event in a difficult time, but they stood up to the task. The organizers secured the area in such a way that no gap in the system was possible. We tested for coronavirus every day. For sure China coped with the challenge," Szeliga concluded.