Ostrów Wielkopolski is a city in west-central Poland with 70,982 inhabitants (2021), situated in the Greater Poland Voivodeship; the seat of Ostrów Wielkopolski County. It is the fifth-largest city in the voivodeship after Poznań, Kalisz, Piła and Konin.
Poland's sports include almost all sporting disciplines, in particular: football, volleyball, motorcycle speedway, ski jumping, track and field, handball, basketball, tennis, and combat sport. The first Polish Formula One driver, Robert Kubica, has brought awareness of Formula One Racing to Poland. Volleyball is one of the country's most popular sports, with a rich history of international competition. Poland has made a distinctive mark in motorcycle speedway racing thanks to Tomasz Gollob, Jaroslaw Hampel, Bartosz Zmarzlik, Maciej Janowski and Rune Holta. Speedway is very popular in Poland. They won the world cup (2014), and the Polish Extraleague has the highest average attendances for any sport in Poland. The Polish mountains are an ideal venue for hiking, skiing and mountain biking and attract millions of tourists every year from all over the world. Cross country skiing and ski jumping are popular TV sports, gathering 4–5 million viewers each competition, with Justyna Kowalczyk, Dawid Kubacki, Adam Małysz and Kamil Stoch as the main attractions. Baltic beaches and resorts are popular locations for fishing, canoeing, kayaking and a broad-range of other water-themed sports.
The Poland men's national handball team is controlled by the Polish Handball Association, and represents Poland in international matches.
Talant Mushanbetovich Dujshebaev is a former handball player, and current coach, who serves as the head coach for Vive Kielce. Dujshebaev is considered by many to be one of the greatest handball coaches of his generation. He successively played for 4 national teams in his playing career: First for the Soviet Union, then the Unified Team, then Russia and finally Spain. His most usual demarcation as a player was centre backcourt. After initially having success with BM Ciudad Real as a coach, he has been coaching Kielce for nearly a decade now.
Sławomir Szmal is a former Polish handball player, who played for the Poland men's national handball team, a participant in the Olympic Games Beijing 2008, and a medalist in the World Championship. Szmal is currently the goalkeeping coach of the Polish national team.
Karol Bielecki is a Polish former handball player who played for the Polish national team.
Bogdan Brunon Wenta is a Polish politician and handball coach and former Polish and German handball player. He has been a member of the Poland men's national handball team in 1981–1994 and Germany men's national handball team in 1997–2000, a participant of the Olympic Games Sydney 2000, five-time Polish Champion, and former head coach of Poland. He has been one of the best handball player in the history of Polish handball. Between 2014 and 2018 he was a Member of the European Parliament for the Polish Civic Platform. In 2018, he was elected as Mayor of Kielce, having run from his own committee with the endorsement of the Civic Platform.
Stéphane Antiga is French professional volleyball coach and former player. He was a member of the France national team from 1998 to 2010, and a participant in the Olympic Games Athens 2004. He is the current head coach of DevelopRes Rzeszów.
Marcin Rafał Możdżonek is a Polish former professional volleyball player, a member of the Poland national team in 2007–2016, a participant in the Olympic Games, the 2014 World Champion, 2009 European Champion, and the 2012 World League winner.
Marcin Urbaś is a former Polish track and field athlete. He is the Polish record holder for the 200 metres dash with 19.98 seconds. He is now a sprinting coach.
Michał Jerzy Winiarski is a Polish professional volleyball coach and former player. Winiarski was a member of the Poland national team from 2004 to 2014, a participant in the Olympic Games, 2014 World Champion, and the 2012 World League winner. He currently serves as head coach for the Germany national team and the Polish PlusLiga team, Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie.
Marcin Wichary is a former Polish handball player and the current goalkeeper coach for Poland. As a player he received a bronze medal with the Polish team at the 2015 World Men's Handball Championship in Qatar. He participated at the 2008 Summer Olympics, where Poland finished 5th.
Bartosz Jurecki is a former Polish handball player who is currently the manager of Piotrkowianin Piotrków Trybunalski.
Krzysztof Lijewski is a Polish former handball player. He received a silver medal with the Polish team at the 2007 World Men's Handball Championship and a bronze medal at the 2009 World Men's Handball Championship in Croatia and at the 2015 World Men's Handball Championship in Qatar. He participated at the 2008 Summer Olympics, where Poland finished 5th and at the 2016 Summer Olympics, where Poland finished 4th.
Michał Jurecki is a Polish retired handball player.
Tomasz Tłuczyński is a retired Polish team handball player, who was playing on the Poland men's national handball team. He received a silver medal with the Polish team at the 2007 World Men's Handball Championship. He participated at the 2008 Summer Olympics, where Poland finished 5th. He also received a bronze medal with the Polish team at the 2009 World Men's Handball Championship.
Bartłomiej Jaszka is a former Polish handball player who is currently the manager of Zagłębie Lubin.
Patryk Kuchczyński is a former Polish team handball player.
Marcin Wika is a Polish volleyball player, a member of Poland men's national volleyball team in 2008-2009 and Polish club Espadon Szczecin, a participant of the Olympic Games Beijing 2008,
Marcin Przemysław Lewandowski is a Polish retired middle-distance runner. He won the bronze medal in the 1500 metres at the 2019 World Athletics Championships and silver in the same event at the 2018 World Indoor Championships. At the European Athletics Championships, Lewandowski claimed gold in the 800 metres in 2010 and silvers in 2016 and 2018 for the 800 m and 1500 m respectively. He took also five medals at the European Indoor Championships, including three golds between 2015 and 2019, and two silvers in 2011 and 2021.
