Hell in the Polish team. Matusiñski: Ania refused. Further talks made no sense

On the first day of M in Eugene, all hell broke loose. Anna Kiebasiska refuses to start in the 4×400 meter mixed relay race. Our second fastest competitor this year issued a statement. She informed that coach Aleksander Matusiski promised her to start only in the final, without having to run a few hours earlier in the qualifying rounds. At the last minute, the coach wanted Kiebasiska to run twice, because he realized that before the final he would be able to make only one change (at the Olympics in Tokyo, where we won gold, he would make three changes).

in the eyes of many fans, she discredited the Polish Athletics Association and the coaches of the mixed relay race (Matusiski and Marek Roej), emphasizing in a statement that she had known about the changes in the regulations two weeks earlier and it is not her fault that no one in our team knew, by what was wrong planned.

Kiebasiska’s attitudes were considered treason by Karol Zalewski and, above all, Justyna wity-Ersetic and Natalia Kaczmarek. They both hinted that I didn’t want to go to Eugene anymore and ran from Kiebasiska. Although the program included a classic women’s 4×400 m relay.

Why did Kaczmarek get so upset? How was Kiebasisk tried to persuade him to help the team? Who will make mistakes without following the changes in the law? Coach Matusiski is trying to answer these questions.

The coaches were not informed. “I don’t know if anyone is to blame”

– Information about the change in the rules of the mixed relay will not reach me or coach Roej, but almost to the competition. On June 20, PZLA provided us with the team manual, the only document about the method of conducting the competition. There is no information in it about the new amount of change in the mite. This record will appear approximately two days before the start, in the manual on the website of the championship. We have a rigorous team manual from June and the one that was here on M, we see the difference, he says.

– Apparently, after June 20, an update was sent to the national associations. I don’t know if it has arrived or if someone is to blame and will not send it to us. In any case, we found out about everything two days before the start. And we had to adapt – adds the coach.

Matusiski is not convinced that Kiebasiska knew about the changes earlier than our entire team. It is possible, she trains with Dutch girls, has a Swiss coach, from whom from this international society can I hear that now in the mixed relay it will be possible to make only one shift.

– I don’t know how Ania found out. Please ask her. At our meeting she said she didn’t know maybe she knew. And I found out from her statement that she had known for two weeks. I read this statement only after a few days, I did not want to get involved with it, I did not want to refer to it, because the competition was on – says the coach.

Zalewski had exactly what Kiebasiska was promised

Matusiski emphasizes that when our staff found themselves in a new, difficult situation, everyone except Kiebasisk was looking for a new solution.

– There was a meeting conversation. One, then another. Several people were involved in this problem. Everyone wanted to comply with the rules, find a solution, and then find who was to blame. This person is still to be found. But then we were looking for a solution – says Matusiski.

The trainer reveals interesting details. – Karol Zalewski had the promised run only in the final, and he didn’t even say a word, he ran twice – he said.

Trainer Kaczmarek was ready to welcome Natalia

– After Ania’s refusal, I talked once again with coach Roej that maybe let’s try to take a step back, so that Natalia would also run in the qualifying rounds, although I thought that her, as our highest ranking competitor, should rest before the finals. But we were ready to do it and then we would put Karol Zalewski on the finals – continues Matusiski.

– But Ania said that she was also not satisfied with such a solution. I don’t think any further talks made sense. Coach Roej wanted to take that step, Natalia didn’t even know, but she would have run twice if we had chosen to. However, Ania did not agree to any new solution – adds Matusiski.

An example from a basketball and the best one: Justyna wity-Ersetic

– In a sudden situation, you need to react, help. I do not imagine that, for example, a basketball player will only play in the third quarter, because that is what he arranges, and when it suddenly turns out that he is needed also in the fourth quarter, he refuses, does not want to help chase the result – Matusiski said. And he gives perhaps the best example of the life of this relay race.

– At M in Doha in 2019, we had Justyn wity-Ersetic and Ig Baumgart-Witan in the individual finals. It was made clear: the athlete with the poorer result in the final would run in the relay qualifying round. Because there we grind the reserves in weaker dispositions. Justyna was better than Iga in the final, but I told her: “Justyna, you are stronger, you will regenerate, let Iga rest, especially since she is slightly cold”. Justyna did not protest, she was running.

“This is bitterness. These are emotions.”

Matusiski said directly that he understood why in the emotions Saint-Ersetic said after the final of the mixed relay race that she did not imagine that she would be on the treadmill in Eugene with Kiebasisk. – All in all, I understand these words. This is bitterness. It’s emotions. The girls certainly did not feel confident and comfortable. However, for a week later we worked on the subject together, and there was no longer any saying that no one would run with whom. All the girls would like to run for the national team, they were all focused on a joint fight – says the coach.

There was no such joint fight, because the women’s 4×400 meter relay did not qualify for the finals. The dropout of Polish women in the qualifying rounds is a sensation. They have won nine medals at the M, ME and Olympics since 2017. The beautiful series ends in a very unpleasant way. Certainly, to what extent the reason for the failure is the broken atmosphere in the team.

Matusiski does not regret choosing such a composition. “They’re not robots”

– Even with these difficult circumstances, the relay should be in the final. With such a composition as it would be – says Matusiski.

The fastest Kaczmarek and Kiebasiska did not run in the qualifying rounds. The coach explains that both had to be saved financially. – Ania and Natalia were at their best disposal, but they had their problems. After the qualifying rounds, Natalia had food poisoning, for three days it was not known whether she would go to training or do it. Ania, on the other hand, was terribly tired after the individual runs (she reached the finals, took a bad place). These girls are not robots, they already pierce their own, they have various resentments. We jointly recognized that if we are fighting for a medal, and only such goals are of interest to us, we must put up fresh players – says Matusiski.

The jury is wrong, the collision took our finale

The coach is convinced that the relay race consisting of: wity-Ersetic, Baumgart-Witan, Kinga Gacka and Magorzata Houb-Kowalik would have won promotion to the final, if not for the bad luck of Houb-Kowalik. She moves on to the last shift in third place. If it reaches the finish line, Polish women will be happy to finish. Unfortunately, she was finishing drinking. Left foot injured.

– The Canadian who picked up the baton on the last shift stood too close to Gosia and the one who was returning the baton had nowhere to brake, so she stepped on Gosia’s foot. She grabbed Gosia’s shoe and injured her foot. We missed 0.23 seconds to enter the finals. I think that without Gosia’s injury, she would gain more and we would have a fin – the coach analyzes. – Honestly, it must be said that all the girls ran a bit slower than they came out of the calculation – he adds.

The PZLA protested against the collision between the Canadian and Houb-Kowalik. We have requested to be added to the finau. But the jury found that contact was minimal and had no effect on the score. – Let me just say that Gosia is barely able to walk, take her foot off. It is not known how it will end, how the treatment will proceed – said Matusiski.

“When I get an order to stand on a treadmill together, I don’t see the possibility that I will refuse.”

The main coach of the 4×400 m relay is convinced that the unsuccessful starts in Eugene will not destroy the team, which in recent years has been one of the best in all Polish sport.

– Girls are professionals. Know that sports are different. We were flying all the time on the rising wave, we even pulled more than theoretically we should. For sure the girls will mobilize, do a good job for three weeks and try to do the best possible results at the European Championships in Munich. We’ll do blood tests, check what’s going on in our bodies. And we will go to a training camp. We will cut off the topic of misunderstanding. And Ani, if she is healthy, the most spectator in the relay. Both in the elimination run, if necessary, and in the final – says Matusiski.

– Nobody apologizes to anyone, but we talk to each other normally, we do not shout at each other. I suppose that the girls will not go on vacation with Ani, but when I get an order to stand on a treadmill together, I don’t see the possibility that the trainer will refuse.