Nowak, who yesterday issued a statement - since deleted - alleging "abnormal events" at the Championships that concluded in Chorzów on Sunday (June 25), has spoken in more positive tones today.

"It is true we had hoped for bigger numbers of spectators in the stadium itself but having the European Athletics Team Championships as part of the European Games in this format for the first time was still a very important innovation," he said.

EOC President Spyros Capralos said:  “In just three editions, the European Games have advanced to the point where many of the competitions here are either European Championships or offer Olympic qualification places.

"The EOC is very pleased that athletics is among the sports whose best competitors, including Olympic champions, could join us to be part of Krakow-Malopolska 2023."

Dobromir Karamarinov, the European Athletics President, was also happy to accentuate the positive.

The call by Nowak for the organisers of the athletics event - European Athletics and the Silesian Stadium - to "explain…reports of abnormal events" was believed to refer to the playing of the wrong version of a song during the award ceremony, although there has been no official confirmation of this from any of the parties involved.

After Italy had won the top version of the event for the first time, music broadcast in the Silesian Stadium during the victory celebrations contained an altered, football fans' version of a song composed by Ricchi e Poveri, Sara Perch Ti Amo (Sarah Because I Love You) which contained the words "who doesn’t jump is a Juventus hunchback".

Video clips of this were widely circulated on social media.

One element of the Championships that raised some comment was the fact that, while it was only concerned with points and team standings, the top three First Division teams, and the three top performers in each event across all three Divisions, received European Games medals.

"European Athletics is very pleased that we and the EOC have been able to honour both the winning teams and also those individual athletes who shone on to their occasion during our time together here in Poland," said Karamarinov.

“I think having the European Athletics Team Championships being held as part of the European Games was a win-win situation.

“European Athletics and the athletes themselves benefitted being part of this very important continental event and I believe that the EOC benefited from our sport being a hugely committed contributor to these European Games with 47 of our Member Federations taking part.

"The level of performances on the track was outstanding, with European Athletics Team Championship records being set in all three divisions.

“In addition, although we do not have the full figures as yet, I expect the audience figures – whether through national rights holders, our live streaming and our extensive efforts on digital and social media platforms, to be very strong."

"It was definitely worth being part of the European Games and I am very glad European Athletics have extended their involvement this time compared to the previous two editions."

Karamarinov sees a future for his sport at the European Games.

“We very much look forward to being involved in the European Games again in four years’ time and are grateful to all who contributed to the event’s success," he said. 

“In addition, it should be noted that the 2028 European Athletics Championships will be held in the very same venue in Silesia.

“I think this shows our love for this region."

An enhanced outside broadcast operation enabled footage of the highest quality to be provided to European fans throughout the competitions.

Extensive highlight clipping also enabled extraordinary social media content, enabling viral coverage of special moments like Belgian shot-putter Jolien Boumkwo’s performance in the 100m hurdles, as she took the place of an injured team-mate.

Clips of her race quickly earned tens of millions of video views.