Jakob Ingebrigtsen saved the world record with shoes from a shop. The only pair. Usain Bolt came to Poland because his father was a fan of lemon liqueur. The hammer throwers’ dinner? A hot dog from a petrol station. Since 2009, the Silesia Kamila Skolimowska has been a treaure trove of great stories.
All those close to Kamila Skolimowska and the people responsible for the Memorial’s current power would prefer it if the meeting never came into existence. That would mean the Olympic champion from Sydney was still among us. The ever cheerful, open-minded, happy hammer thrower is now commemorated in a way that reflects who she was. Since 2009 and the first edition of the meeting, taking place in the Skra stadium in Warsaw, dozens of anecdotes have accumulated around the event. Here are eight of them that have become especially entrenched in memories. At least out of those that are fit for publishing.
Jakob Ingebrigtsen and supermarket-bought shoes. The only pair on the shelf saved the world record
2024 – the year when two world records were set in the Silesian Stadium. There were no concerns about Armand Duplantis, but Jakob Ingebrigtsen’s feat in the 3000m was up in the air until the last moment. That was because the day before the competition, during training, the Norwegian’s running spikes broke.
– That was his only pair. And a special model. He had to have an identical pair, but it was simply impossible to get hold of – recalls Marcin Lewandowski, who was on the side of the track giving him the split times during the record run.
Lewandowski saved Jakob twice. Ingebrigtsen was resigned to not competing, as no car would have made it in time to transport the nearest spare pair. It was in Berlin. The two-way journey from Chorzów would have taken more than a dozen hours. But then Marcin moved heaven and earth, contacting all the running shops in the area. He was already losing hope when it turned out that one of them had a single pair – the exact same model.
– OK, but what size is it? – he asked.
– Such and such.
– Oh man. That is it.
Jakob expressed his gratitude with a phenomenal time of 7:17.55 – a world record for the distance where the previous mark lasted so long that the record holder promised a Mercedes to his successor. It is not known whether he actually gifted Jakob one.
Usain Bolt for lemon liqueur. In the so-called Big Stadium
Usain Bolt’s only appearance in Poland occurred in 2014. It was preceded by a European trip by the Jamaican’s father, who visited the Ostrava meeting as part of it. Usain had regularly competed there and the common element of the two meetings was Alfons Juck – then sports director of both the „Kama” and the Golden Spike. It was he who invited Bolt senior to the event in Poland. It did happen and that was the key to inviting the world record holder..
– Usain was most probably contracted thanks to the taste of the lemon liqueur that was made by Robert Skolimowski himself – Marcin Rosengarten recalls with a laugh.
– The athlete’s father took two bottles to his room. And there he finished the athletes’ dinner, which at that time took place before rather than after the meeting. Before that, he had set another condition: the stadium. Rosengarten recalls that the guest was highly impressed by the National Stadium as they passed by it on the way to the official training. He called it the „Impressive Big Stadium”. When they reached the Orzeł stadium, which was the arena of the event until 2013, Bolt senior called it a warmup stadium. It took a long time for anyone to find the courage to correct his mistake. It was eventually done by the chief organiser.
– If we laid a track there, in the National Stadium, would Usain come? – was the probing question,
Before the dinner and the liqueur, Marcin received the answer, „it is possible”. Next morning it changed to „very much so”. The rest is history, which – despite the taste of the drink – still set the organisers back a million zloty. But it paid off. Reportedly Bolt is still wondering how it happened that his name was displayed on the facade of the National Stadium. He is also pondering why he was not able to start a game on the PlayStation that the hotel borrowed from Anita Włodarczyk. The menu was in Polish and nobody was able to help him.
Dinner for a hammer thrower? A hot dog. Taken there with the only bus
It was the beginnings of the event – 2009, organised on a low budget by a group of friends with one bus. That was a Volkswagen which had belonged to Kamila. Rosengarten himself used it to pick up the athletes and it was impossible for him to spend the entire day before the event driving between the airport and the hotel.
– Krisztian Pars, Primoz Kozmus, Tatyana Lysenko, Yipsi Moreno, they all came, the absolute top of hammer throwing. But everyone was arriving at a different time and there was just one car. We had to call and ask them to wait for pick-up. Sometimes an hour, sometimes two. It is unthinkable nowadays, but that was the norm back then – Marcin said with a laugh, noting: – Nobody got offended. Not after the dinner we served.
Shrimp, caviar? None of that. When a group of hammer throwers was riding the bus from the airport, Rosengarten needed a fill-up. He bought two hot dogs for everyone at the petrol station.
If they throw into the thicket, they will not be able to find the hammer. Who can cut it down?
This is another story from the Skra stadium. The Memorial’s early days and a team wanting to put on a dream event, but not knowing exactly to go about it. Finally, just before the event, Kamila’s loved ones went to see the place where the competition was to take place. Not all of them, but the majority were surprised to see that an athletics venue is covered in tall grass.
– How will they measure the distances? – was the question adressed to Krzysztof Kaliszewski, then Włodarczyk’s coach, also present.
– What do you mean?
– If the hammer falls into this grass, nobody will be able to find them. It has to be mowed – Rosengarten stated.
He thus signed his own sentence, as 15 minutes later he was pushing a lawn mower around. It is worth noting, this was a hand push model of the kind used in home gardens. It also noteworthy that the area that needed mowing was approximately 100 by 65 metres. He made it. Or perhaps it is more appropriate to say he survived it.
Custom-made lines for Anita. More important than metres
The 2015 and 2016 seasons were Anita Włodarczyk’s absolute prime, after setting numerous world records. Unfortunately, in 2015 the Memorial took place after her peak form, following the world title she won in Beijing. The Pole felt that her energy is running out, but wanted to reach the top level again for Kamila.
– Think of something to motivate me – she said jokingly.
Several ideas were suggested, but the most effective one turned out to be a simple bet. But the organisers decided to make it public. Without directives on how the stadium and the setup should look (the rules are now enforced by the Diamond League), it was decided that the lines drawn in the stadium would correspond to specific prizes. The one set at 80 metres meant a manicure. The world record line would lead to purchasing a pair of shoes.
In 2015 Anita threw 78.16 at the Memorial. A year later, however, she set a phenomenal world record of 82.98.
Teresa, you will not believe it! The first phone call after Diamond League status was given
Today, the Memorial functions in a different reality. But, just like everything else in the history of the event, obtaining the Diamond League status happened in a frantic way. When Chorzów put on the World Relays in the pandemic year of 2021, Rosengarten made a phone call to Jon Ridgeon, Sebastian Coe’s right-hand man. The purpose: to find out what the League plans to do about the cancellation of coming stops on the tour.
– I will keep you in mind – was the answer received by the Pole, but at the time it sounded more like „we will call you back” than a binding declaration.
It was too late for it to happen in 2021. But half a year passed and winter came. A follow-up call happened, with a slight feeling of imposing oneself on an important figure. The funny fact is that the call would probably not have taken place had it not been for Maria Andrejczyk’s persuasion. Rosengarten believed it would achieve little and he shared his scepticism. The javelin thrower had a different opinion and in a way forced Marcin to make an attempt.
Ridgeon picked up the phone.
– You know, Marcin, you are calling at the perfect moment. We just received the information that China remains closed due to the pandemic.
That was on January 25th. A while later, Petr Stasny, the head of the Diamond League, after finding out about the alternative, asked for an application with a budget, a plan and further details. In mid-March, a phone was picked up again, this time in Poland.
– What do you say? Are we doing this?
– I will never forget what I felt at that moment. I felt flashes of hot and cold. I took a deep breath, then another one, before I realised it was all coming true – Marcin Rosengarten recalled. The first person he called with the news was naturally Robert Skolimowski. This is what the conversation went like:
– We got the Diamond League.
(a moment of silence)
– TERESA? TERESA!!! – Skolimowski shouted in his flat and there was no continuation. He hung up the phone. Later on, Robert and Teresa admitted they felt the hot and cold flushes as well.
Vetter’s throw stopped the shot put competition. Because his grandfather came from Chorzów
Everyone remembers the throw. After all, the 97.76 achieved in Silesia in 2021 remains the second-longest javelin throw of all time. The German’s implement looked to be floating above the roof of the stadium. And then it landed right next to the camera operators working on the shot put competition at the other end of the arena.
– Move them, move them! – The organisers shouted as they ran, asking for extra space. – He is going to break the world record!
In the end the record did not happen, but the shot putters were ordered to take breaks while the German was throwing. Most regrettably, Vetter never made another appearance at the „Kama” due to injuries. He really wanted to, for a reason which took everyone by suprise at the post-meeting banquet.
– Marcin, my grandfather is Polish.
– Where is he from?
– From Chorzów. He even wrote me after the throw. When I come back here, I have to see him.
Weatherwoman Teresa Skolimowska. Totally reliable
Teresa Skolimowska, Kamila’s mother, is a key figure for the Memorial. It is she who informs the organising team every year that she talks with her daughter on the eve of the event dedicated to her memory. Significantly, regardless of the wether forecasts, she states there is zero chance of rain. It is a constant element of the pre-event briefings. And it continues to work. In 2025, the storm over Silesia stopped at 1:29 PM. The opening ceremony started at 1:30. The sun came out. After all, Kama made a promise to her mom.