EURO ARM 24 SUMMARY # Armwrestling # Armpower.net

There will be several summaries of these Championships. I will try to present each Champion, from the youngest to the oldest, from the lightweights to the heavyweights. Now, a general overview of the entire event. The results are here, and the video report is already available.

I have watched many World and European Championships, so I shouldn't get emotional. However, I was genuinely touched a few times. When you stood on the highest step of the podium, holding the flags of your countries... Some were surprised that they had won, others were overwhelmed with joy. When the national anthems played, I saw tears in the eyes of many of you. Moments like these make it worth working hard every day, lifting weights, sparring, traveling long distances, and sometimes cutting weight. It's worth it!

Congratulations on the matches, the medals, and the other placements. Thank you for your sportsmanship and, once again, for the atmosphere you all created together!

In terms of sports, it was great. Many interesting matches where the advantage shifted from one side of the table to the other. Many surprising outcomes. I will write about these in more future articles once I organize my notes.

In terms of organization, it was excellent. The organizers were prepared for every circumstance, and the event proceeded with no issues. There were no serious, dramatic injuries, although medical assistance was needed a few times.

Protests were within the norm, although one final had as many as three.

This event was, of course, supported by IFA, FAP, MCKiS Jaworzno, and the authorities of Jaworzno. There is also one person thanks to whom all these "cogs" worked perfectly.

Mariusz Grochowski!

I give him the floor:

It's not easy to summarize this event because several circumstances coincided, each deserving of a comment. The first is the 20th anniversary of our club, which we celebrated on May 15. Last year, in December, when the Mayor and the Director came to us to personally present awards for sports achievements of the past year, a spontaneous proposal was made that we could organize something special for the anniversary, that the European Championships were up for grabs.

The decision was made immediately!

Afterwards, it was just a matter of finalizing the details. I wanted to mention that Jaworzno has organized such a large event in this hall for the fifth time. In 2004, it was the Silesian Championships, a very large event. The next event was the Polish Cup in 2006, followed by the Polish Championships in 2008, then there was a break, and we organized the Polish Championships again in 2022, and in 2024 the largest event of this sport so far, the European Championships. All these competitions enjoyed great interest and always had very good reviews.

I would like to mention a very important event for me that took place a week earlier. I was at a motorcycle rally in Mazury, in the town of Stare Jabłonki. The Indian Motorcycle Rally, beautiful surroundings, great organization. I spent three days there. On Saturday evening, during the event, a charity auction was held on stage.

The guys from the Dark Horses Warsaw club have been supporting the Orphanage in Pęchery near Warsaw for several years. Since December, they had been collecting various items to raise money and, of course, donate it to this institution. It was a great opportunity for me to support this collection myself.

I jumped on stage!

I introduced myself, said a few words about who I am, and then donated my gold medal, which I won after 25 years of arm wrestling, in 2022 in Dieppe, France.

The audience was moved and responded very positively to my gesture, and then we proceeded to the auction. There were many bidders, the amount quickly rose, and I was amazed at how engaged the audience was. Ultimately, the medal was auctioned for 7500 PLN, the highest amount for any item at the auction and also the highest for any of my medals, which I have often donated for various causes. Since it was a spontaneous decision, I wasn't prepared and didn't have the medal with me, but I said I would personally deliver it to the buyer. When I got home, I thought the best occasion to hand over the medal would be during the European Championships, so I invited the guys from the Dark Horses club to the event to introduce them to the sport and because I thought it was the best occasion to present the medal, which is what happened.

The medal's buyer, "Kapsel" is a member of this Motorcycle Club. He was moved by the whole story and spontaneously decided to participate in the auction and happily won it.

Members of the Black Wolves Katowice club, which I also am part of, joined the guys from the Warsaw club at the championships. This gave me incredible support and a fantastic audience, significantly improving the event. I had a lot of supporters because I've joined various clubs and run different activities. I would like to thank all the motorcyclists for their support, for being there with me, my trainees from Cross Training Fabryka Formy, and Max Gym. I also want to thank many individuals who came to support me, and at one point, I felt like half the hall was my supporters!

Of course, I cannot forget our MCKiS Tytan Jaworzno club. I thank the city authorities, the management, and everyone who contributed to the organization. Our club brought 14 athletes, winning a total of 26 medals with both arms at this event.

An incredible result! I also competed personally, winning two European Vice-Champion titles for the left and right arm.

It reminds me of something else. I was a co-organizer of the 2018 European Championships held in Katowice at the MCK venue near Spodek. There were about 850 competitors! The event lasted a week. I stood on the podium, third place, and my elder daughter placed the medal around my neck. At these championships in Jaworzno, when I stood at the table for an elimination match, I heard my youngest daughter shout, "Go, Dad!" I turned around, and it was one of the most beautiful moments imaginable! I had to win that match, even though it wasn't easy!

I believe we will meet again in this hall because I think it is perfectly suited for this type of event. And who knows, maybe one day we will organize the world championships here?

Let it not be said that at the beginning the opinion is only mine. Here is Marian Capla's voice:

I am home for few hours and thinking about past weekend. It was great again. European Championships is over. I am full of emotions. We had really high level tournament there. New teams brought passion, strenght and quality. All together we had almost 300 pullers from 21 countries, more than 650 entries. Great experience. Big THANKS belongs to the host - Polish federation and to all who did great job there (Staff, Referees, City Hall, Sponsors...). And of course to all participants who brought the atmosphere I love -friendship and the feeling that we belong to our big, strong armwrestling family. The strongest got medails, but we have won ALL there! THANK YOU ALL and See You SOON!