Danas Pozniakas (19 October 1939 – 4 February 2005) was a

Lithuanian Lithuanian may refer to: * Lithuanians * Lithuanian language * The country of Lithuania * Grand Duchy of Lithuania * Culture of Lithuania * Lithuanian cuisine * Lithuanian Jews as often called "Lithuanians" (''Lita'im'' or ''Litvaks'') by other Jew ...

amateur light-heavyweight

boxer Boxer most commonly refers to: * Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing *Boxer (dog), a breed of dog Boxer or boxers may also refer to: Animal kingdom * Boxer crab * Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans * Boxer snipe ee ...

who won the European title in 1965, 1967 and 1969 and an Olympic gold medal in 1968. Pozniakas was born in Poland as Dan Pozniak, and in the 1950s moved to Vilnius, Lithuania, where he took up boxing at age 13. He won the Soviet title in 1962 and a European silver medal in 1963, but at the 1964 Olympic trials lost to Aleksei Kiselyov and was not selected. By the next Olympics, he was a double European champion and a clear favorite. He decisively won his first three bouts and received the Olympic gold by default, as his opponent

Ion Monea Ion Monea (30 November 19401 March 2011) was a Romanian amateur boxer. He competed as a middleweight in 1960–64 and won a bronze medal at the 1960 Olympics and a silver medal at the 1963 European Championships, placing fifth at the 1964 Olympi ...

had a broken nose from his previous fight and withdrew from the final. Monea lost to Pozniakas in the 1967 and 1969 European championships. Pozniakas became the

Honoured Master of Sports of the USSR Unified Sports Classification System of the USSR (russian: Единая Всесоюзная спортивная классификация) is a document which provided general Soviet physical education system requirements for both athletes an ...

in 1965 and was selected as the

Lithuanian Sportsperson of the Year Since 1956, Lithuania honors their greatest athlete of the year Athlete of the Year is an award given by various sports organizations for the athlete whom they have determined to be deserving of such recognition. Definition of "athlete" *In man ...

in 1968; in 1969 he was awarded the

Order of the Red Banner of Labour The Order of the Red Banner of Labour (russian: Орден Трудового Красного Знамени, translit=Orden Trudovogo Krasnogo Znameni) was an order of the Soviet Union established to honour great deeds and services to th ...

. He retired around 1969 with a record of 203 wins out of 217 bouts. In 1974, he became an

AIBA The International Boxing Association (IBA), previously known as the Association Internationale de Boxe Amateur (AIBA), is an independent sport organization that sanctions amateur (Olympic-style) boxing matches and awards world and subordinate cha ...

international referee and later coached the national team of

Seychelles Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (french: link=no, République des Seychelles; Creole: ''La Repiblik Sesel''), is an archipelagic state consisting of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, V ...

in 1983–88. Between 1991 and 1994 he served as president of Lithuanian Boxing Federation. He died of a heart attack in 2005, aged 65. Since his death in 2005, an annual boxing tournament is held in Vilnius, in his honor.

References

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* 1939 births 2005 deaths Sportspeople from Podlaskie Voivodeship Lithuanian male boxers Armed Forces (sports society) sportspeople Light-heavyweight boxers Olympic boxers for the Soviet Union Boxers at the 1968 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the Soviet Union Olympic medalists in boxing Lithuanian Sportsperson of the Year winners Soviet male boxers Medalists at the 1968 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Białystok Burials at Antakalnis Cemetery {{Lithuania-boxing-bio-stub