Janusz Tadeusz Kusociński (15 January 1907 – 21 June 1940) was a Polish
athlete
An athlete (also sportsman or sportswoman) is a person who competes in one or more sports that involve physical strength, speed, or endurance.
Athletes may be professionals or amateurs. Most professional athletes have particularly well-devel ...
, winner in the 10,000 meters event at the
1932 Summer Olympics
The 1932 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the X Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1932) were an international multi-sport event held from July 30 to August 14, 1932 in Los Angeles, California, United States. The Games were held duri ...
.
Biography
Born in
Warsaw
Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...
into the family of a railroad worker, Janusz Kusociński, or ''Kusy'' as he was
nickname
A nickname is a substitute for the proper name of a familiar person, place or thing. Commonly used to express affection, a form of endearment, and sometimes amusement, it can also be used to express defamation of character. As a concept, it is ...
d, played
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
for various Warsaw clubs as a schoolboy. He took up athletics in 1928 after joining the sport club "Sarmata". His coach there was the famous
Estonia
Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...
n,
decathlete
The decathlon is a combined event in athletics consisting of ten track and field events. The word "decathlon" was formed, in analogy to the word "pentathlon", from Greek δέκα (''déka'', meaning "ten") and ἄθλος (''áthlos'', or ἄθ ...
Aleksander Klumberg
Aleksander Klumberg (since 1936 Kolmpere; 17 April 1899 – 10 February 1958) was an Estonian decathlete. He competed in several events at the 1920 and 1924 Olympics and won a bronze medal in the decathlon in 1924. In 1922 he became the first of ...
.
In his first competition at the Polish National Championships, Kusociński surprisingly won the 5000 m and cross country titles. He missed the next season, because he was called to duty by the Polish army, but he came back stronger than ever. He won the Polish Championship titles in the 1500 m and the 5000 m, in cross country in 1930 and 1931, and in the 800 m in 1932.
In 1932 Kusociński was working as a
gardener
A gardener is someone who practices gardening, either professionally or as a hobby.
Description
A gardener is any person involved in gardening, arguably the oldest occupation, from the hobbyist in a residential garden, the home-owner suppleme ...
in a park in Warsaw.
Wallechinsky, David
David Wallechinsky (born David Wallace, February 5, 1948) is an American populist historian and television commentator, the president of the International Society of Olympic Historians (ISOH) and the founder and editor-in-chief of AllGov.com and ...
(2004). ''The Complete Book of the Summer Olympics'', Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
: Sport Classic Books. Just about a month before the
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
Olympics, Kusociński ran a new
world record
A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...
in the 3000 m (8:18.8) and later that year, he set a new unofficial world record in running 4 miles in a time of 19:02.6. At the Olympics, Kusociński won a close battle against the
Finns
Finns or Finnish people ( fi, suomalaiset, ) are a Baltic Finnic ethnic group native to Finland.
Finns are traditionally divided into smaller regional groups that span several countries adjacent to Finland, both those who are native to these ...
Volmari Iso-Hollo
Volmari "Vomma" Fritijof Iso-Hollo (5 January 1907 – 23 June 1969) was a Finnish runner. He competed at the 1932 and 1936 Olympics in the 3000 m steeplechase and 10000 m and won two gold, one silver and one bronze medals. Iso-Hollo was one of ...
and
Lasse Virtanen
Lauri Johannes "Lasse" Virtanen (3 August 1904 – 8 February 1982) was a Finnish long-distance runner, winner of bronze medals in the 5000 metres and 10,000 metres at the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los ...
in the 10 000 m, with a world season's best time of 30:11.4.
After finishing second in the first European Championships at
Turin
Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...
in the 5000 m in 1934, Kusociński decided to retire from athletics, but made a comeback in 1939 by winning the 10 000 m at the Polish National Championships.
Kusociński volunteered for the Polish army after Poland was attacked by the
Germans
, native_name_lang = de
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3,322,405
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and was wounded twice. During the German occupation he worked as a waiter, but was secretly a member of the
Polish resistance.
[ Janusz Kusociński was arrested by the ]Gestapo
The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe.
The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...
on 26 March 1940 during the AB Action
, location = Palmiry Forest and similar locations in occupied Poland
, date = Spring–summer 1940
, incident_type = Mass murder with automatic weapons
, perpetrators = Wehrmacht, '' Einsatzgruppen''
, participants =
, ...
and imprisoned in Mokotów Prison
Mokotów Prison ( pl, Więzienie mokotowskie, also known as ''Rakowiecka Prison'') is a prison in Warsaw's borough of Mokotów, Poland, located at 37 Rakowiecka Street. It was built by the Russians in the final years of the foreign Partitions of P ...
. He was executed three months later in Palmiry
Palmiry () is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Czosnów, within Nowy Dwór County, Masovian Voivodeship, in east-central Poland. It is located at the edge of the Kampinos Forest, approximately south-east of Czosnów, south ...
, near Warsaw.
An annual athletics competition, the Kusociński Memorial, is held in Poland in his honour. It was in its 55th edition in 2009.[Grinberg, Daniel (8 June 2009)]
Throwers dominate 55th Kusocinski Memorial
IAAF
World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body for ...
. Retrieved on 2009-06-09. On 12 August 2009, he was posthumously awarded the Commander's Cross with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta
The Order of Polonia Restituta ( pl, Order Odrodzenia Polski, en, Order of Restored Poland) is a Polish state decoration, state Order (decoration), order established 4 February 1921. It is conferred on both military and civilians as well as on al ...
, "for outstanding contribution to the independence of the Polish Republic, for sporting achievements in the field of athletics".
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kusocinski, Janusz
1907 births
1940 deaths
Athletes from Warsaw
Polish male long-distance runners
Athletes (track and field) at the 1932 Summer Olympics
Olympic athletes for Poland
World record setters in athletics (track and field)
Polish military personnel of World War II
Commanders with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta
Polish people executed by Nazi Germany
European Athletics Championships medalists
Executed people from Masovian Voivodeship
Medalists at the 1932 Summer Olympics
Olympic gold medalists for Poland
Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field)
Polish resistance members of World War II
Resistance members killed by Nazi Germany
Polish civilians killed in World War II