“Since we teamed up with Michal, this Olympics has definitely been the big goal, especially for me since this is my last Olympics and I will finish my career after that,” Polish beach volleyballer Grzegorz Fijalek told Volleyball World right after he and Michal Bryl claimed their second victory at Tokyo 2020. “I believe we can do something positive here and achieve a big result.”
Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 - Beach Volleyball
Fijalek shrugs off pain to stay focused on his last Olympics
After two wins in Tokyo, Bryl still talks about his first Olympic experience in future tense
Published 07:11, 28 Jul 2021
‘Focus’ seems to be the key word for the Polish star while he and his teammate are working through their Olympic campaign in the Japanese capital.
“I don’t have a plan for after Tokyo. I will try to stay focused every single day through the end of this tournament and we’ll see what happens,” the 34-year-old third-time Olympian said. “This season especially is very hard for me. I had surgery after the last tournament we won in Doha in 2020. I had some complications after the surgery and I am still fighting them. But I am here to fight for every single ball and I have forgotten about my problems. I try to push my partner inside the court to do a good job.”
Grzegorz Fijalek at his last Olympic Games, Tokyo 2020
“We worked for this not four, but five years,” 26-year-old blocker Bryl added. “We had great seasons in 2018 and 2019. After that there was a long break. Fifi had the surgery. Now we are fighting to come back and I hope the good results will come now, at the Olympics.”
Some good results have already come. In their first match, the Poles defeated Morocco’s Mohamed Abicha and Zouheir Elgraoui in straight sets. In the second, they shut out Chilean cousins Marco Grimalt and Esteban Grimalt and secured their spot in the next round of the tournament.
“We came to the court very focused on our side and it worked out very well. We are building our shape step by step,” Fijalek said. “We are not thinking about the next round yet. We still have one more game to play in this round against Brazil (Evandro Goncalves and Bruno Schmidt) and we have to play it the same way we did today, with full power and focused on every single action and we will see what happens later.”
Michal Bryl in action
“We need to stay focused on preparing our next battle against Brazil in order to finish first in the pool,” Bryl confirmed. “It’s hard to say if I feel this will be our tournament, because we still don’t know what we can do. Sometimes we feel that we can beat everybody, but sometimes we feel worse. But I hope now we can build, step by step, match by match, and it will be a great tournament for us.”
While this is the last Olympics for Grzegorz, for Michal it is the first. But even after two victories in Tokyo he prefers to talk about his rookie Olympic experience in the future tense, obviously determined to achieve many more.
“Experience? It will be,” he said. “We have only played two matches so far…”
Fijalek and Bryl encourage each other
“At London 2012 I was shaking a lot inside the court and I was like that for two or three matches,” Fijalek reminisced about his Olympic debut. “But now I play with a new guy, a young guy. Michal is very concentrated. He knows exactly what he needs to do on the court. It’s working and I hope we keep our shape through the end of the tournament. This is the first Olympics where I am very relaxed.
“So I knew how Michal felt, especially in our first game against Morocco. He was very nervous and shaking a little bit. But he is a smart guy and he knows he is in his best shape at this moment in the season. I just hope we stay concentrated and keep fighting.”
“Yes, I was shaking before the first match against Morocco,” Bryl confirmed. “I had worked with psychologists and I thought I was ready, but it’s different. It’s a different experience at a different tournament.”
Michal Bryl
At London 2012, Fijalek and Mariusz Prudel - his partner at the time - reached the quarterfinals. Four years later, at Rio 2016, they were eliminated in a lucky-loser match to finish 17th. Playing at his third Olympics and hoping for the best with his new teammate, the experienced defender reflected on the situation at Tokyo 2020.
“Everything here is very good. The organization is at the top level. I don’t think there are many countries that can deliver such a huge competition. Everything is perfect, starting from the Olympic Village. The food, the gym and the other facilities here are perfect,” he said. “Yes, it’s pandemic time, so it is a little bit sad to see a stadium full of empty seats, but what could we do? I just try to focus on our side, on our game... We cannot do more. I hope that our families are cheering in front of the TV.”
