UMCS was visited by another medalist of the XXXII Summer Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 - Małgorzata Hołub-Kowalik. The athlete went down in the history of Polish sport as a gold medal winner in the mixed relay and silver medal in the 4x400 women's relay. The competitor is a representative of the AZS UMCS Lublin University Club and a student of internal security at the Faculty of Law and Administration of UMCS.
Today, on 10th August, the press conference was held with the participation of our two-time medalist. The event was also attended by: Rector of the university, prof. Radosław Dobrowolski, Vice-Rector for General Affairs prof. Arkadiusz Bereza, Member of the Board of the Lublin Province Zdzisław Szwed, Deputy Mayor of the City of Lublin Beata Stepaniuk-Kuśmierzak, President of the Lublin Regional Athletics Association Urszula Jaros, Rector of UMCS in the years 2012-2020 prof. Stanisław Michałowski and Vice-President of AZS UMCS Dominik Małys. Fans and representatives of the academic community also gathered at the monument to the patron of the University.
Małgorzata Hołub-Kowalik admitted that she is still in shock and does not believe what happened at the Olympics: Leaving quietly for Tokyo with the girls, we dreamed of winning one and a bronze medal. In fact, what happened on the spot exceeded our wildest expectations. (…) Never in my life would I expect to fulfil my biggest dream and bring me the Olympic Games medal.
The athlete thanked the trainer Zbigniew Maksymiuk and added that her adventure with Lublin and the Lublin province also contributed to winning the medal: I could count on support all the time, and thank you very much for that. I want to thank the university that I have such an opportunity to combine my studies with training. I wish myself and you that, after the next Olympics, there will be even more medals for the Lublin region.
The Rector of UMCS, prof. Radosław Dobrowolski: It rarely happens that on such a large event as the Olympic Games, three medals were awarded to students from one university and players from one club. I am pleased that the University's policy related to a certain balance and focusing on academic sports brings such wonderful results. Prof. Dobrowolski congratulated the competitor and emphasized the value of teamwork and commitment of all runners from the relay race and people from the coaching staff.
After the press conference, the medalist posed for photos and gave autographs.
The broadcast of the meeting is available on the official UMCS fan page.
Photo Michał Piłat
