Leszek Robert Blanik (born 1 March 1977 in

Wodzisław Śląski Wodzisław Śląski (; german: Loslau, cs, Vladislav, la, Vladislavia, yi, וואידסלוב, Voydislav, szl, Władźisłůw) is a city in Silesian Voivodeship, southern Poland with 47,992 inhabitants (2019). It is the seat of Wodzisław Cou ...

) is a Polish gymnast, World and Olympic champion in vault. He was the first to perform a handspring double front vault in piked position which now has been named after him.

Olympics

Blanik picked up a bronze in vault at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

. On 18 August 2008, he won the gold medal in men's vault at the

Olympics The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

in Beijing, becoming the first Polish Olympic champion in a gymnastics event.

World championships

Blanik won a gold medal in vault at the 2007 World Championships in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

, earning him an individual berth to the

2008 Beijing Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nat ...

. He also has two World silver medals, from

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

in Debrecen, and

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

in Melbourne.

Awards

For his sport achievements, Blanik received:
POL Polonia Restituta Kawalerski BAR

Knight's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (5th Class) in 2008.
POL Złoty Krzyż Zasługi BAR

Golden Cross of Merit in 2000.

References

External links

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Blanik (vault animation)
1977 births Living people Polish male artistic gymnasts Gymnasts at the 2000 Summer Olympics Gymnasts at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for Poland Olympic gold medalists for Poland Olympic gymnasts of Poland People from Wodzisław Śląski Medalists at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships Olympic medalists in gymnastics Originators of elements in artistic gymnastics Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Silesian Voivodeship Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics European champions in gymnastics {{Poland-Olympic-medalist-stub