Polish Dragon Boat Racing, also referred to as "tug of oars" [2] or "dragon war", [3] is a sport consisting of two opposing teams of six rowers attempting to row a dragon boat across a center line, [4] [5] and is similar to tug-of-war. The sport gained popularity in Poland in 2015 after a competition on March 21 of that year at the National Dragon Boat Competition in Olsztyn, and also received some media attention in the United States. [6] A popular video of the March 21st match was uploaded to YouTube on March 25, 2015, by YouTuber SmokiPolnocy, and has been viewed over 58,000 times as of August 2017. [7] There is currently no governing body or league for the sport.
Rowing, often called crew in the United States, is the sport of racing boats using oars. It differs from paddling sports in that rowing oars are attached to the boat using rowlocks, while paddles are not connected to the boat. Rowing is divided into two disciplines: sculling and sweep rowing. In sculling, each rower holds two oars, one in each hand, while in sweep rowing each rower holds one oar with both hands. There are several boat classes in which athletes may compete, ranging from single sculls, occupied by one person, to shells with eight rowers and a coxswain, called eights. There are a wide variety of course types and formats of racing, but most elite and championship level racing is conducted on calm water courses 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) long with several lanes marked using buoys.
Tug of war is a sport that pits two teams against each other in a test of strength: teams pull on opposite ends of a rope, with the goal being to bring the rope a certain distance in one direction against the force of the opposing team's pull.
The World Games are an international multi-sport event comprising sports and sporting disciplines that are not contested in the Olympic Games. They are usually held every four years, one year after a Summer Olympic Games, over the course of 11 days. The World Games are governed by the International World Games Association, under the patronage of the International Olympic Committee.
A dragon boat is a human-powered watercraft originating from the Pearl River Delta region of China's southern Guangdong Province. These were made of teak, but in other parts of China different kinds of wood are used. It is one of a family of traditional paddled long boats found throughout Asia, Africa, the Pacific islands, and Puerto Rico. The sport of dragon boat racing has its roots in an ancient folk ritual of contending villagers, which dates back 2000 years throughout southern China, and even further to the original games of Olympia in ancient Greece. Both dragon boat racing and the ancient Olympiad included aspects of religious observances and community celebrations, along with competitions.
Poland's sports encompass 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.
Towarzystwo Sportowe Wisła Kraków Spółka Akcyjna, commonly referred to as Wisła Kraków, is a Polish professional football club based in Kraków. They currently compete in the I liga, the second level of Polish football league system, following relegation from the 2021–22 Ekstraklasa season. It ranks fourth in the number of national titles won (13), behind Górnik Zabrze, Ruch Chorzów, and Legia Warsaw (15), and second in all-time victories. Wisła was founded in 1906 under the name TS Wisła. The team plays its home matches at Henryk Reyman Stadium.
Jagiellonia Białystok is a Polish professional football club based in Białystok that plays in the Ekstraklasa, the top level of Polish football. The club was founded in 1920 by soldiers in the 42nd Infantry Regiment Reserve Battalion in Białystok. Jagiellonia play their home games at the Chorten Arena.
Gliwicki Klub Sportowy Piast Gliwice is a Polish professional football club based in Gliwice. In the 2018–19 season, Piast won its first Polish championship. As of 2024–25, it competes in the Ekstraklasa, Poland's top division.
Lechia Gdańsk is a Polish football club based in Gdańsk. They compete in Ekstraklasa in the 2024–25 season after winning the 2023–24 I liga.
Rowing is the oldest intercollegiate sport in the United States. The first intercollegiate race was a contest between Yale and Harvard in 1852. In the 2018–19 school year, there were 2,340 male and 7,294 female collegiate rowers in Divisions I, II and III, according to the NCAA. The sport has grown since the first NCAA statistics were compiled for the 1981–82 school year, which reflected 2,053 male and 1,187 female collegiate rowers in the three divisions. Some concern has been raised that some recent female numbers are inflated by non-competing novices.
A demonstration sport, or exhibition sport, is a sport which is played to promote it, rather than as part of standard medal competition. This occurs commonly during the Olympic Games, but may also occur at other sporting events.
The 2005 World Games, the seventh World Games, were an international multi-sport event held in Duisburg, Germany from 14 July 2005 until 24 July 2005. Three other cities, namely Bottrop, Mülheim an der Ruhr, and Oberhausen, also held some of the competition events. More than 3,000 athletes competed in 31 official sports and 6 invitational sports.
The International Dragon Boat Federation is the international governing body for the sport of dragon boat racing. IDBF was founded in Hong Kong on June 24, 1991 by Australia, China, Taiwan, Great Britain, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Italy, Malaysia, Norway, the Philippines, Singapore, and the United States. IDBF currently has 75 member countries or territories and is supported by five continental federations.
Jesus College Boat Club is a rowing club for members of Jesus College, Oxford, one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford. The club was formed in 1835, but rowing at the college predates the club's foundation: a boat from the college was involved in the earliest recorded races between college crews at Oxford in 1815, when it competed against Brasenose College. In the early years of rowing at Oxford, Jesus was one of the few colleges that participated in races. Neither the men's nor the women's 1st VIIIs have earned the title of "Head of the River", which is gained by winning Eights Week—the main inter-college rowing competition at Oxford.
Macau residents participate in a wide variety of sports for recreation and competition. Football, basketball, volleyball, Dragon Boat, jogging, swimming, table tennis, and badminton are among the most popular in the community. Local leagues and competitions are organized regularly every year, but owing to Macau's small population professional leagues are financially unfeasible and so most participants are merely local sport enthusiasts.
Paddling, in regard to waterborne transport, is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using at least one hand-held paddle. The paddle, which consists of one or two blades joined to a shaft, is also used to steer the vessel via generating a difference in propulsion between the two sides of the watercraft. The paddle is not connected to the boat, unlike in rowing where the oar is attached to the boat.
Robert Lewandowski is a Polish professional footballer who plays as a striker for La Liga club Barcelona and captains the Poland national team. He is regarded as one of the best players of his generation and as one of the greatest strikers of all time. He is one of the most successful players in Bundesliga and Bayern Munich history. He has scored over 600 senior career goals for club and country.
The 2017 World Games, also known as Wrocław 2017, was the tenth edition of the World Games, held from 20 to 30 July 2017 in Wrocław, Poland. The World Games were organized by the Wrocław Organizing Committee. Wrocław was selected as the host city in January 2012 in Lausanne, over Budapest, Hungary. It was the first time The World Games was organised in Poland.
Juldarigi is a traditional Korean sport similar to tug of war. It has a ritual and divinatory significance to many agricultural communities in the country, and is performed at festivals and community gatherings. The sport uses two huge rice-straw ropes, connected by a central peg, which are pulled by teams representing the East and West sides of the village. A number of religious and traditional rituals are performed before and after the actual competition.
Jerzy Iwanow-Szajnowicz was a Polish-Greek athlete who fought as a saboteur in the Greek Resistance during World War II and was executed by the Germans.