My daughter isn’t ever likely to be the ‘Sports Personality of the Year’. Like me, her idea of an adrenaline rush is finding a good book and turning its pages for regular exercise. But after a month of football related questions and the imminence of London’s 2012 Olympics, it’s about time I explained to her the concepts of healthy competition, winners, losers, trophies, medals and team work. Actually, I thought daddy could do it! So in an attempt to look sporty we hopped on our bicycles, took to the sporadic cycle paths and pedaled our way to The Museum of Sport and Tourism.

The museum is housed in the appropriately named ‘Olympic Centre’ and set in green parkland bordering on to the river Wisła. On Saturday entrance is free. Sporting our cyclist’s glow we sprinted up the steep suspension pathway, spiraling to the first floor and began our journey through the history of sport.

Text relating to the exhibition is in Polish, so I strongly advise renting an English language mp3 player or springing for the zł. 40 that will get you a ‘real’ guide around the museum. The space is very open plan, so while I headed obediently toward the ‘start’ (an ancient Greek pot) nostalgia led daddy in the opposite direction: the football paraphernalia. But before we had time to absorb any facts our daughter was challenging us to a race on a 50m track that stretched the length of the museum. After a brief attempt to get on our marks and get set (harder than one thinks), she screamed ‘go’ and we were off. Of course, I’d have won were it not for the hurdle.

The permanent exhibition consists of vintage/modern day memorabilia from horse riding to hockey, fencing to football, gymnastics to snowboarding alongside an array of polished silverware that will trigger even the faintest of competitiveness. With birthday party opportunities and Moonsfera, the top floor fancy restaurant, this is an activity worthy of a family day out and perfect for igniting an interest in the Olympic spectacle. (GBB)