The Polish team featured six defending Olympic champions from Sydney: race walker Robert Korzeniowski, rifle shooter Renata Mauer-Różańska, rowing pair Tomasz Kucharski and Robert Sycz, and hammer throwers Kamila Skolimowska, and Szymon Ziółkowski.

Swimming star Bartosz Kizierowski, who finished fifth in Sydney four years earlier in the men's 50 m freestyle, became the nation's flag bearer in the opening ceremony.

[1] Poland left Athens with a total of ten medals, three golds, two silver, and five bronze, the lowest in Summer Olympic history since 1956.

Among the nation's medalists, two of them climbed the Olympic podium for the first time: Anna Rogowska, who beat her teammate Monika Pyrek to take home the bronze in women's pole vault,[3] and Otylia Jędrzejczak, who became the most decorated Polish athlete at these Games with three medals, including the nation's first gold in swimming.

[4] Kucharski and Sycz managed to repeat their golden streak in the men's double sculls, while Korzeniowski ended an illustrious Olympic career with a historic milestone as the first athlete to defend his Olympic title in men's 50 km race walk for the third consecutive time.