Bartosz Kurek

Bartosz Kurek
Personal information
Full name Bartosz Kamil Kurek
Nickname Kuraś
Nationality Polish
Born August 29, 1988
Wałbrzych, Poland
Hometown Nysa, Poland
Height 2.07 m (6 ft 9 in)
Weight 104 kg (229 lb)
Spike 375 cm (148 in)
Block 340 cm (130 in)
Volleyball information
Position Outside hitter
Current club Italy Cucine Lube Treia
Number 16
Career
Years Teams
2004–2005
2005–2008
2008–2012
2012–2013
2013–		 Poland AZS PWSZ Nysa
Poland ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle
Poland PGE Skra Bełchatów
Russia VC Dynamo Moscow
Italy Cucine Lube Treia
National team
2007–  Poland
Last updated: February 20, 2015

Bartosz Kamil Kurek (born August 29, 1988 in Wałbrzych, Poland) is a Polish volleyball player, a member of Poland men's national volleyball team and Italian club Cuncine Lube Treia, a participant of the Olympic Games London 2012, European Champion 2009, gold medalist of the World League 2012, silver medalist of the World Cup 2011, bronze medalist of the World League 2011 and the European Championship 2011, three-time Polish Champion and Italian Champion.

Personal life

Bartosz Kurek was born in Wałbrzych, but raised in Nysa, Poland. His father, Adam Kurek, was also a volleyball player, capping several times for Poland. Bartosz played basketball in his early youth, but later moved to the class with volleyball. He has a younger brother - Jakub. Bartosz and his brother appeared together in a Polish TV advertisement for Zott yogurt Monte. His manager is a former volleyball player, Olympic Champion - Ryszard Bosek.

Bartosz Kurek in 2009.
On September 30, 2011 during the PGE Skra Bełchatów 3:1 Lotos Trefl Gdańsk match at Ergo Arena, Gdańsk in season 2011/2012.
After the winning match at Spodek in Katowice. In the foreground from left: Zbigniew Bartman, Bartosz Kurek, Michał Winiarski and Krzysztof Ignaczak.
During the match Poland - USA at Spodek in Katowice (World League 2012).
During the match Poland - USA at Spodek in Katowice (World League 2012).
During the match Poland - USA at Spodek in Katowice (World League 2012).
After the match Poland - USA at Spodek in Katowice (World League 2012).

Career

Clubs

Kurek began his career in a team from Nysa (2004–2005), where he played alongside his father. He then spent 3 years playing for a PlusLiga club, ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle (2005–2008).

In 2008, he moved to PGE Skra Bełchatów, one of the most successful teams in Polish PlusLiga, where he quickly became a key player. With PGE Skra he won the Polish Championship three times in 2008/2009, 2009/2010 and 2010/2011 and claimed a silver medal in 2011/2012. He won Polish Cup three times - in 2009, 2011 and 2012. He also has two silver medals of Club World Championships from 2009 and 2010. In 2010 PGE Skra Belchatów, with Bartosz Kurek, won the bronze medal of CEV Champions League. On March 18, 2012 PGE Skra won the silver medal of CEV Champions League after losing to Zenit Kazan in the final in Łódź, Poland. The final result was judged controversial by some, as the referee didn't see an error by a Russian player and ended the match despite the fact that the audience and the players saw the error on screen.[1] Kurek received the award for Best Spiker of CEV Champions League 2011/2012.

After the season 2011/2012 he left PGE Skra Bełchatów and signed contract with Russian club VC Dynamo Moscow,[2] but due to injury was unable to play for his new club for the large part of the season.

After one season in Russia, Bartosz moved to Italian club Lube Banca Macerata. His official presentation as a player of Lube Banca Macerata took place on July 9, 2013.[3] In 2013/2014, the team won Scudetto (Italian Champion) after matches against Sir Safety Perugia.[4][5][6] On October 15, 2014 Lube Banca Macerata, including Kurek, won their first trophy of the 2014/2015 season. Club from Macerata beat Copra Elior Piacenza (3-2) and won Italian SuperCup2014.[7]

National team

Bartosz was in the Polish squad when the Polish national team won the gold medal of European Championship 2009.[8] On September 14, 2009 he was awarded Knight's Cross of Polonia Restituta.[9] The Order was conferred on the following day by the Prime Minister of Poland, Donald Tusk. On July 10, 2011 Kurek with his national team won the first medal of the World League for Poland in history. They won bronze medal after defeating Argentina. Kurek received the award for Best Scorer of the final tournament.[10] Next for Poland was European Championship 2011, where they were the defending champion of the title. Kurek was his team's key player throughout the tournament and Polish national team won a second medal in 2011 - a bronze after winning match against Russia. At this tournament Kurek won his second individual award this year, for Best Server.[11] In November 2011, despite a back injury Kurek went to Japan to participate in the World Cup and helped his team win silver medal and therefore qualify for the Olympic Games.[12] On July 8, 2012 the Polish team won gold medal of the World League 2012. Kurek received the award for Most Valuable Player.[13][14] Kurek was one of the key players of the Polish team at the Olympic Games London 2012, but Poland lost in the quarterfinal against Russia and was eliminated from the tournament.

In 2014 he was a member of the Polish national team during the 2015 Men's European Volleyball Championship qualification, but then did not get a chance to play in the World League. He was not included in the Polish national team's 14-player roster for the World Championship, held in Poland.[15]

Sporting achievements

Clubs

CEV Champions League

FIVB Club World Championship

National championships

National team

FIVB World Cup

FIVB World League

CEV European Championship

Individually

State awards

References

  1. ↑ Zenit KAZAN shatters PGE Skra dreams of home glory - cev.lu - 18-03-2012
  2. ↑ Kurek odszedł do Dynama - skra.pl - 06-05-2012
  3. ↑ Prezentacja Bartosza Kurka jako gracza Cucine Lube Banca Marche Macerata - sportowefakty.pl - 09-07-2013
  4. ↑ SCUDETTO ALLA LUBE! APPLAUSI ALLA GRANDE SIR! - sirsafetyperugia.it - 04-05-2014
  5. ↑ APOTEOSI LUBE IN GARA 4 A PERUGIA: SIAMO CAMPIONI D'ITALIA - lubevolley.it - 04-05-2014
  6. ↑ Bartosz Kurek mistrzem Włoch - plusliga.pl - 04-05-2014
  7. ↑ Bartosz Kurek z Superpucharem Włoch - plusliga.pl - 15-10-2014
  8. ↑ 2009 CEV European Championships Results - cev.lu - 03-09-2009
  9. ↑ Reprezentacja siatkarzy odznaczona przez prezydenta - prezydent.pl - 15-09-2009
  10. ↑ 2011 FIVB Volleyball World League Final Report - fivb.org - 10-07-2011
  11. ↑ Bartosz Kurek is the man of the day as Poland strikes bronze at EuroVolley - cev.lu - 18-09-2011
  12. ↑ Poland shoot up World Rankings on back of World Cup silver - fivb.org - 06-12-2011
  13. ↑ Poland beat USA to claim first World League title - fivb.org - 08-07-2012
  14. ↑ Poland wins historical gold at the 2012 World League - fivb.org - 08-07-2012
  15. ↑ MŚ siatkarzy 2014: Stephane Antiga powołał kadrę, Bartosz Kurek nie jedzie na mundial - eurosport.onet.pl - 17-08-2014

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bartosz Kurek.
Awards
Preceded by
-		 Best Scorer of
FIVB Club World Championship
2009 		Succeeded by
Argentina Federico Pereyra
Preceded by
Russia Maxim Mikhaylov		 Best Scorer of
FIVB World League
2011 		Succeeded by
Bulgaria Todor Aleksiev
Preceded by
Russia Yury Berezhko		 Best Server of
European Championship
2011 		Succeeded by
Italy Ivan Zaytsev
Preceded by
Bulgaria Matey Kaziyski		 Best Spiker of
CEV Champions League
2011/2012 		Succeeded by
France Antonin Rouzier
Preceded by
Russia Maxim Mikhaylov		 Most Valuable Player of
FIVB World League
2012 		Succeeded by
Russia Nikolay Pavlov

See also