Politicians often seek to show off their physical strength, with the new Polish President Karol Nawrocki the latest to continue the trend. <\/p>\n
Following his election in August, the former right-wing historian’s social media has been awash with footage of him training in the gym. <\/p>\n
The videos show him hitting a punching bag, lifting weights and doing pull-ups. <\/p>\n
From the gym to the political arena<\/p>\n
The recently elected Polish president’s publicised workouts should come as no surprise, as many leaders have also been keen to present themselves in sporting contexts.<\/p>\n
Examples include Vladimir Putin, who has been known to show off his judo skills, and Barack Obama, who demonstrated his basketball skills by making a three-pointer. <\/p>\n
There is also no shortage of athletes who have decided to switch from sports to politics.<\/p>\n
Vitali Klitschko, a former Ukrainian boxer who now serves as the mayor of Kyiv, is among them. <\/p>\n
So too are former Manchester City footballer Mikheil Kavelashvili, who is now the president of Georgia, and Imran Khan, a former Pakistani cricketer who later became his country’s prime minister. <\/p>\n
Another two are the ex-footballer George Weah, who was president of Liberia from 2018 to 2024, and Arnold Schwarzenegger, the actor and professional bodybuilder who served as governor of California.<\/p>\n
In Poland, similar careers have been pursued by Szymon Ziolkowski, an Olympic athletics champion who made it to the Sejm, and Witold Ba\u0144ka, an athlete and sprinter who became minister for sport.<\/p>\n
Does being athletic make it easier for politicians to win votes?<\/p>\n
Is an athletic politician more likely to convince voters? Does physical fitness help a politician?<\/p>\n
Speaking to Euronews, Professor Jacek Wasilewski, a media expert from the University of Warsaw, said that it can indeed be advantageous. <\/p>\n
Wasilewski noted that if we see someone who is muscular, we think to ourselves: “‘Oh, this person will be able to keep us safe.’ Because for many thousands of years of our evolution, that is indeed how it was.” <\/p>\n
According to the lecturer, politicians exploit their sporting image.<\/p>\n
“In times of uncertainty, when people feel anxious, a politician displaying physical strength…gives an illusory but strong sense of stability,” Wasilewski explained.<\/p>\n
Wasilewski said that politics used to be dominated by aristocrats who presented themselves in a more refined way, but that this has now changed.<\/p>\n
“Today, politicians direct their message to the masses, which requires simpler, more pop-cultural language \u2014 sometimes aggressive or offensive,” he said. <\/p>\n
“Images of politicians allude to cinematic heroes or symbols of strength, which in popular culture are associated with security. For voters immersed in this culture, such a leader is a warrior who ‘won’t let anyone step on his head’, but also won’t let anyone step on our country’s head.”<\/p>\n
“Tusk’s ‘branch-humping’ vs Nawrocki’s boxing<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Donald Tusk, a strong supporter of the football club Lechia Gda\u0144sk, is another Polish politician who loves sport.<\/p>\n
He even became vice-president of its fan club in the early 1970s.<\/p>\n
However, it seems that Nawrocki has gained a little more politically from his love of sport, according to Wasilewski.<\/p>\n
“Tusk playing football was perceived as ‘backyard,’ it’s entertainment, spending time together, which doesn’t necessarily build an image of power,” he said.<\/p>\n
“Nawrocki’s boxing, on the other hand, is associated with masculine identity, courage and resistance to blows.”<\/p>\n
“Sport, particularly in the Olympic tradition, comes from the exercise of warriors. Boxing is a direct reflection of this, while football is a ritualised team game. Modern sports, such as golf and polo, have moved away from this warrior symbolism,” the professor added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Politicians often seek to show off their physical strength, with the new Polish President Karol Nawrocki the latest…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":231959,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[49,48,110163,407,84,110162,7607,110161,1942,457],"class_list":{"0":"post-231958","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fitness","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-donald-tusk","11":"tag-fitness","12":"tag-health","13":"tag-karol-nawrocki","14":"tag-media","15":"tag-polish-politics","16":"tag-social-media","17":"tag-sport"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=231958"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231958\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/231959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}