They came to see the Polish Batman

Ski jumper Adam Malysz didn't disappoint, winning bronze.

By DAMIAN CRISTODERO, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published February 11, 2002

PARK CITY, Utah -- They came in great numbers to cheer Poland's Adam Malysz.

One fan, Ziggy Lutkowski, estimated that 25 percent of the crowd of 18,999 that watched ski jumping Sunday at Utah Olympic Park were of Polish decent.

Even Nobel Peace Prize winner Lech Walesa, who helped bring down Poland's communist government with his Solidarity movement, and was the country's first popularly elected president, was beaming in the stands.

Kris Ksiag of Chicago was there as well, dressed in his country's national colors of red and white, to see the man known as the Polish Batman.

"In Poland, he is bigger than the president right now," Ksiag said. "In Poland, only the pope is bigger."

Malysz (pronounced Mol-ish) might have given the pope a run for his money had he earned gold in the 90-meter jump. But he settled for bronze after a disastrous first of two jumps put him in third with almost no chance of catching gold medalist Simon Ammann of Switzerland and silver medalist Sven Hannawald of Germany. Malysz sailed through the crystal-blue sky that enveloped the Wasatch mountains, his skis in a perfect V. Ninety-eight and a half meters later, Malysz had the day's second-best jump. But he lost significant style points because he pitched forward on the landing after he said he hit a "gap" in the snow made by an earlier crash.

If Malysz's flag-waving, cowbell-shaking, fuzzy hat-wearing fans were disappointed, they did not show it.

"I can't describe it," said Anna Jedryka, part of a large and loud contingent from Chicago. "He's just too much. I'm so excited."

As Malysz prepared for his first jump, Jedryka, who came to the United States five years ago, could barely stand still.

"I'm shaking," she said.

This is rock-star stuff.

"It is difficult to talk about," Malysz said, through an interpreter. "It is really big. There is no way to explain the phenomenon of the popularity."

The easy answer is Malysz is a winner. He is the defending World Cup champ and has seven victories in this season's first 18 events. His bronze was Poland's fifth medal ever in the Winter Olympics and the first since Wojciech Fortuna got the country's only gold, in ski jumping, in 1972 in Sapporo, Japan.

But there are deeper issues. Some go to the essence of Poland's national pride and how Polish people see themselves. Malysz is one of them, they say, a common man, a hard-working man, who can do uncommon things.

He grew up on a farm and, for a time, considered quitting his sport to become a roofer. He and his wife Izabela own an electronics store.

"He's very warm, very knowledgeable," said Fortuna, who watched near the landing area. "He's not cocky, looking down at everybody because he's a big champion. He's also a little shy."

"He's just like all the Polish people," Jedryka said. "He's not very much higher. He's very the same."

Jedryka has never met Malysz but knows he is a good person. Why else would he go on the radio to tell his fans to "be careful" to "take care of yourselves" when they travel to watch him compete?

He is their feel-good story. More than 30,000 fans traveled to the Czech Republic last season to watch Malysz's run for the World Cup title and to put aside the problems of a country trying to find its economic footing.

Brian Gionda, who flew from Poland to watch Malysz, said unemployment in Poland is 18 percent. Jedryka said there is no middle class. You either have a lot or a little.

"We have got a lot of problems, so we need to have success," Walesa said. "Malysz is our success."

After Malysz won the World Cup, bakers honored him with a 300-kilogram white-chocolate statue depicting him holding his skis on a victory platform.

Malysz might have been there Sunday had he not messed up his first landing. He had the distance: His two-jump total of 196.5 meters equalled Ammann's. But his style points on his first jump ranged from 16.5 to 18 on a scale of 20. Neither Ammann nor Hannawald dipped below 19 on either of their jumps.

"I landed in a place where Noriaki Kasai fell and there was a gap in the snow," Malysz said. "My left ski landed in the gap and I had to struggle to keep my place. It affected my overall performance and I am happy with my bronze medal."

"We got a medal and that's the most important thing," Jedryka said. "And we still have Wednesday."

That's when Malysz will compete in the 120-meter jump, and they will come again in great numbers to cheer.

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