Outline of the History of People’s Sports Teams in the Dąbrowa Basin (1945–1989)

Abstract

The aim of the study is to present the activities of People’s Sports Teams (PST) in the Dąbrowa Basin in the years 1945-1989. The first PST links in the area discussed were created as early as in 1946 (including Orzeł Bobrowniki, PST Myszków and PST Przemsza Siewierz). In the period discussed the rural community of the Dąbrowa Basin took part in a lot of different sports initiatives, e.g. in rural strongman competitions, in chess tournaments for the “Golden Tower” or in rural sport festivals. Among the PST clubs existing inthe Dąbrowa Basin, the most active ones were the above-mentioned PST Myszków, PST Będzin, PST Kłos Olkusz and PST Światowit Myszków. The multiple prize-winning representative of PST Myszków in the period discussed was Bogusław Fornalczyk (cyclist). In 1960, he competed in the 17th Summer Olympics in Rome. It is worth mentioning that in the following years (1961–1963) he also cycled in coloursof PST Będzin. In turn, the representatives of PST Kłos Olkusz were most successful especially in sports acrobatics – including Beata Borowiec, Alicja Lach, Witold Majka and Agata Ostrowska, and in athletics – including Grażyna Kowina and Czesława Mentlewicz. For PST Światowit Myszków, which specialized in weightlifting, medals were won by, among others, Dariusz Osuch and Henryk Rok.