There are over 120,000 students in Poznań. Most of them combine studying with active participation in sports.

 

The best student sportsmen take part in international competitions or even the Olympic Games.

Students of 25 Poznań higher education institutions practice over 50 sport disciplines (the most popular being team sports such as football, basketball, volleyball and athletics, rowing and fencing. They also like other disciplines, including judo, swimming, cross-country races, tennis, windsurfing and climbing).
In total, there are over 8,000 people associated with over 300 sports, recreational and tourist activities. In addition to this, there are several dozen students who treat sports only as a form of recreation and as a break between study sessions.
All students can also take part in the Wielkopolska Academic Championships (apart from those from Poznań institutions, students from Gniezno, Leszno and Piła also take part in the championships). Events within the framework of the championships are organised throughout the entire academic year.

Last year, the best team in the Wielkopolska Academic Championships proved to be the students from Adam Mickiewicz University, who beat the Poznań University of Technology’s and the College of Pedagogy and Administration’s teams. Students also compete in Polish Championships for Higher Education Institutions,  Interuniversity Tournaments League Champions, the First-Year Students’ Championships and the Rectors Cup.
In the annual summary of sporting results from all Polish higher education institutions, the Poznań institutions have invariably had leading positions. The Poznań University of Technology and Adam Mickiewicz University  are among the top three teams in the general rankings almost every year.

The best young sportsmen from Poznań may also receive scholarships. Every year, several scholarships are funded by Kampania Piwowarska (one of the leading breweries in Poznań and the sponsor of the Poznań AZS (Academic Sports Association). This year, there are eight scholarship holders, four men and four women, representing the following disciplines: volleyball, basketball, athletics, swimming, Alpine ski-ing, cross-country racing, table tennis, tennis, floorball and beach volleyball.
The best student sportsmen represent Poland at an international level. The most famous is Szymon Ziółkowski who, when still a student, won the gold medal in hammer throwing at the Olympic Games in Sydney in 2000 (the following year, he also won a gold medal at the World Championships in Edmonton, Canada). Ziółkowski still takes part in international sporting events, and he participated in the Olympic Games in Athens (2004) and Beijing (2008).

Another representative at the Olympic Games in Beijing was Julia Michalska from the University of Physical Education. She took part in the singles rowing races and finished in sixth position. Soon after the race, she announced that she was aiming at winning a medal in the next Olympic Games in London in 2012.