PAP/Carlo Ferraro

Poland’s eyes will be on Canada this week as its winter athletes kick off the XXI Olympic Winter Games. The opening ceremony takes place this Friday in the western Canadian city of Vancouver.

The Polish Olympic team comprises 46 athletes, competing in a number of disciplines, including biathlon, figure skating, speed skating, ski jumping, cross-country skiing, snowboarding and luge.

Although regarded with pride and optimism back home, the team’s prospects are not stellar. Poland has, for a number of reasons, never been a winter sports giant. The Polish mountains do not offer the same conditions for training as the Alps, for instance, and interest in professional skiing in Poland is lower than in many of its European peers.

“We are not a winter sports power. Suffice it to say that we have won only eight medals so far,” Piotr Nurowski, president of the Polish Olympic Committee, told the Polish Press Agency last week. He added, however, that he hoped the figure would have two digits after Vancouver.

The biggest medal hopes have been pinned on cross-country skier Justyna Kowalczyk, a double world champion and bronze medalist in the 2006 Olympic Games in Turin. Ms Kowalczyk has been in good form of late and won a number of World Cup competitions in the weeks preceding the Olympic Games. Another favorite is Tomasz Sikora, a biathlete and Olympic silver medalist from Turin.

And there is always Adam Małysz, a renowned ski jumper and one of Poland’s best-known athletes. Mr Małysz may be a few years past his prime, but his experience and decent performance in recent weeks mean that he’s got a shot at a medal in Vancouver, even if the odds are long.

Prizes for Polish medalists this year amount to zł.250,000 for a gold medal, up to zł.150,000 for a silver medal and up to zł.100,000 for a bronze.