Polish → English transcript

We also have the conviction that you are exceptional.

Today I wanted to remind you dear ladies and gentlemen,

that we have nearly 40 million Poles in the Republic of Poland,

and 20 million Poles live outside the borders of the Republic of Poland.

So there are in fact 60 million Poles, and there are sixty of you.

That is one ten- thousandth. 0.001.

This shows on the one hand what was written about by the patron

of this place, where we are now and of the Polish

Olympic Committee,

the holy Polish pope John Paul II,

but it is also what is shown by ordinary mathematics and arithmetic.

That you are in fact those who every day, for many years, for many months,

after receiving this nomination for the Olympic Games, devote your lives,

your emotions, this is a time filled with tears, with sweat,

often, dear ladies and gentlemen, with blood, with joy, with sorrows,

with falling and getting back up, so that, we could live to see this moment and go

to the Olympic Games.

John Paul II wrote that athletes are those who so perfectly combine balance and

achievement, on the one hand of reason, on the other hand of spirit,

and on the third hand of what is most important— the body. And this uniqueness,

which refers both to the statistics that I have cited and to the words of the

greatest of Poles,

shows what exceptional people, Mr. President, Mr.

Minister, dear ladies and gentlemen,

we are meeting with today and how great a hope we have

for your successes at the upcoming Olympic Games.