Polish Olympic Team Vancouver 2010, 200zl

A gold coin devoted to Polish Olympic Team in the Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver in February 2010.

Obverse:
In the central part, a stylized image of a cross-country skier. Below the skier, a stylized image of a snowflake.

Reverse:
In the central part, a stylized image of a cross-country skier. Below the skier, a stylized image of a maple leaf.

Coin designer: Ewa Tyc-Karpińska

The Olympic Games constitute a great celebration not only for sportsmen. In the ancient times during the sport contests wars were stopped. Unfortunately, the event was mainly for rich people. First of all, preparation for the Games and five days of contests meant the necessity of stopping any work. Secondly, the most popular discipline was horse carts racing and horse maintenance was rather expensive. Moreover, the games could be watched only unmarried men and women. Married women who had been caught watching naked sportsmen were condemned to death.

First documented ancient Olympic Games took place in 776 BC. Contemporary summer Olympic Games have been organised since 1896 (they were restarted in Athens), and the winter ones since 1924 (the first took place in Chamonix). At the beginning the sportsmen contested only in 9 sport disciplines: athletics, cycling, fencing, gymnastics, shooting, tennis, weight lifting, wrestling and swimming (rowing was cancelled due to bad weather). Currently according to International Olympic Committee the number of disciplines amounts to 28.

This year the XXI Winter Olympic Games will be organised in Vancouver in Canada. The Opening Ceremony will take place on 12 February. The great sport and fans holiday will last until 26 February. Canada organised winter sport games twice – in Montreal in 1976 and in Calgary in 1988. We keep our fingers crossed for the Polish team in Canada!