Hours after returning to Poland from SportAccord in Turkey, the head of the Krakow 2022 Winter Olympic bid quits over a scandal.
Jagna Marczułajtis-Walczak announced her resignation in a statement published on the Kraków website.
"Having the success of Kraków 2022 Olympic Winter Games project at heart and in response to personal attacks launched against me, I have resolved to resign from the position of the President of Kraków 2022 Bid Committee," she says about the situation she now faces in Poland.
Her husband faces accusations in the Polish media that he tried to influence positive coverage of her in exchange for cash, supposedly at SportAccord.
"I deeply regret the current situation for which I can hardly be held directly accountable. Further to the recent media reports, I wish to state once again that at no time was I aware of the actions taken by my husband, Andrzej Walczak, during my stay at the sports conference in Turkey. Andrzej Walczak acted in his private capacity and was not in a position to suggest that he was expressing the views of the Committee he never worked for and on the work of which he never had any influence," says the former bid leader.
Marczułajtis-Walczak, a member of the Polish Parliament, is a three-time Olympian and snowboarding from 1998 through 2006.
She was the only female leader among the five applicant cities for the 2022 Winter Games.Other cities in the race include Almaty, Beijing, Lviv and Oslo. All five submitted their applications to the IOC one month ago. Those applications are being reviewed by a technical panel a head of a decision by the IOC Executive Board in July on which of the cities should be invited to submit formal bids.
Marczułajtis-Walczak and her fellow bidders had a low-key presence at SportAccord. While leaders of the bids were allowed to travel to the big convention, they were not allowed to make presentations to the media or otherwise promote their candidacy.
In her resignation statement Marczułajtis-Walczak says she remains committed to bringing the Olympics Kraków but can no longer leave the bid.
"However, given the smear campaign conducted against me and the generally unfavourable media climate surrounding the project itself, I have deemed that my resignation could advance the ultimate objective, which is for Kraków to become the Host City of 2022 Olympic Winter Games."
A replacement for Marczułajtis-Walczak is expected to be named soon. The bid faces a do or die test in May when voters in Kraków will be asked whether they support bringing the Olympics to the city.
Written by Ed Hula.
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