Irena Szewińska

Irena Szewińska (2007)

Irena Szewińska (formerly Irena Kirszenstein; born May 24, 1946 in Leningrad ) is a former Polish track and field athlete and Olympic champion. She is still one of the most popular sportsmen in their homeland.

Sporting career

In 1946 she came to Jewish parents in a refugee camp in Leningrad to the world. At 14, she discovered the Athletics for himself and soon gained in the sprint and long jump. As a 18 -year-old, she won the Polish Season in the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, the gold medal in the 4 × 100 m; in the individual competitions, she also won the silver medal in the long jump and the 200 -meter run.

At the European Championships in 1966, she won three gold medals (200 meters, long jump, 4x100 - meter relay ) and was second in the 100 meters. In 1967, she married her coach Janusz Szewiński and launched the following year at the Olympic Games in Mexico City under their new name Szewińska. She won the gold medal in the 200 meters with a world record time of 22.5 s, and the bronze medal over 100 m.

After a maternity leave in 1970, she won a bronze medal respectively at the European Championships 1971 in Helsinki and at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. At the European Championships in 1974 followed by two more European titles in the 100 meters and 200 meters and a bronze medal with the 4 × 100 - meter relay.

During the 1970s, she moved to the 400 - m range and remained unbeaten from 1973 to 1978. At the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal she won at this distance, with the world record time of 49.29 s and a lead of over a second.

At the European Championships in 1978 it was about 400 meters and the 4 × 400 - meter relay each others. Her career ended after the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, where she retired injured.

1966 and 1974 she was named European athlete of the year. 2012 Szewińska was included in the newly -founded IAAF Hall of Fame.

Activity as Sportfunktionärin

From 1997 to 2009 she headed the Polish Athletics Federation PZLA. Since 1998, Irena Szewińska is a member of the IOC and took, among other things, the award ceremony at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens about 100 m Butterfly ago, when the Polish Otylia Jędrzejczak received her first silver medal. In 2005 she was elected in the run-up to the World Athletics Championships in Helsinki in 2005 in the Council of the IAAF.

World Records

  • 9 April 1965, 11.1 s
  • June 14, 1968 in 11,1 s
  • September 7, 1965 in 22.7 s
  • June 18, 1968 in 22.5 s
  • July 13, 1974 at 22.21 s ( until 1978 by Marita Koch undercut )
  • July 22, 1974 in 49.9 s
  • July 22, 1976 in 49.75 s
  • August 29th, 1976 at 49.29 s
Summer Olympic Games 1966 European Athletics Championships 1971 European Athletics Championships 1974 European Athletics Championships 1978 European Athletics Championships 4 × 100 metres relay 400 metres 4 × 400 metres relay International Olympic Committee 2005 World Championships in Athletics Marjorie Jackson-Nelson Betty Cuthbert Wilma Rudolph Edith McGuire Gwen Torrence Allyson Felix Colette Besson Cathy Freeman Tonique Williams-Darling Christine Ohuruogu Heather Armitage Dorothy Hyman Petra Kandarr Katrin Krabbe Irina Privalova Christine Arron Kim Gevaert Verena Sailer Lyudmila Kondratyeva Mariya Ryemyen Gerda van der Kade-Koudijs Jean Pickering Tatyana Kotova
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