Władysław Kozakiewicz
Władysław Kozakiewicz ( born December 8, 1953 in Šalčininkai ) is a former Polish and later German track and field athlete. He won in 1980 with a world record the Olympic gold medal in the pole vault.
Career start
The pole vaulter Kozakiewicz comes from a Polish family in Lithuania who came to Poland only after the time of Stalinism. In 1973, he jumped Polish national record with 5.32 m for the first time. He completed his first international competition at the European Championships 1974 in Rome with 5.35 m from and won the silver medal behind Vladimir Kischkun. With his performance, it went steadily uphill. 1975 he managed a European record of 5.60 m, and so he counted at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal one of the favorites. However, he flew to Canada already injured and was only eleventh. However, his compatriot Tadeusz Ślusarski was Olympic champion in this competition and so Poland did not go away empty-handed. The European Athletics Championships 1978 in Prague, he was fourth. He also won as late as 1977 and 1979 at the European Indoor Championships. His main competition, however, should follow at the Olympic Games in 1980, which made him world famous.
Summer Olympic Games in Moscow in 1980
In June 1980, Kozakiewicz made with 5.72 m to a new world record, which was improved only a little later in the same month of Thierry Vigneron from France to 5.75 m. However, his strongest opponent in the competition of Moscow were his compatriot Ślusarski as the defending champion and the Russian Konstantin Volkov from the Soviet Union.
On July 30, 1980, there came one of the most fascinating contests in the history of the pole vault. Throughout the competition, which lasted more than four hours, trying to bring the two poles with shouts: unfair, whistles and boos on each jump from rest to allow her compatriot Olympic victory, the Soviet audience in the stadium. Finally, all three 5.65 m had skipped, and mastered Kozakiewicz the only the 5.70 m. Then he let the world record height of 5.78 m hang up and retaliated after his successful second attempt at the audience with the Kozakiewicz gesture known to date in Poland (Polish: confess Kozakiewicza ). He turned his right fist toward the audience and slapped his left hand on the upper arm. The image of Kozakiewicz then went around the world. Only the Soviet and Polish press did not show this. He was then elected in 1980 Sportsman of the Year in Poland, which was another sign of the freedom gained.
The period after 1980
In the Polish Athletics Federation however Kozakiewicz then had problems. At his performance of 5.78 m, it did not manage to back. Prior to the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles although he was in excellent shape and the Olympic boycott of Poland would not have been, he could win another Olympic medal. Instead of traveling to the USA as one of the most popular athletes of the Soviet bloc, which would certainly have a lot to excite attention, he had to travel again to competitions in the USSR with the Polish team. After the Games, the athletes were back on socialist meetings in Western Europe, but Kozakiewicz was ordered to only two competitions back home, which eventually was instrumental in his decision to leave Poland.
Emigration
1985 emigrated Kozakiewicz in the Federal Republic of Germany. He took part in the German citizenship and competed in some competitions for the German athletics team, but without greater international success. He held, however, for some time with the German record 5.70 m and was from 1986 to 1988 German Masters. In Germany, he started for the TK Hannover. At a height of 1.87 m his competition weight was 86 kg.
After ending his playing career, he worked as a pole vault coach. Politically, he was active after the turn of the 1990s, although he continued to live in Germany, however, adopted a city council office in Gdynia, where he looks after the interests of the sport center. He is currently a physical education teacher at the CJD Christophorusschule in Elze ( Germany ).
Medals
- Gold - Olympic Games 1980
- Silver - European Championships 1974
- Gold - European Indoor Championships in 1977 and 1979
- Bronze - European Indoor Championships in 1975 and 1982
Championship
- Polish Champion: 1973, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1981, 1984
- German champion: 1986, 1987, 1988