Janusz Tadeusz Kusociński (15 January 1907 – 21 June 1940) was a Polish

athlete An athlete is most commonly a person who competes in one or more sports involving physical strength, speed, power, or endurance. Sometimes, the word "athlete" is used to refer specifically to sport of athletics competitors, i.e. including track ...

, 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 du ...

Biography

Born in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

into the family of a railroad worker, Janusz Kusociński, or ''Kusy'' as he was

nickname A nickname, in some circumstances also known as a sobriquet, or informally a "moniker", is an informal substitute for the proper name of a person, place, or thing, used to express affection, playfulness, contempt, or a particular character trait ...

d, played

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

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, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

decathlete The decathlon is a combined event in athletics consisting of 10 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. 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 popular historian and television commentator, the co-founder and past president of the International Society of Olympic Historians (ISOH) and the founder and editor-in-chie ...

(2004). ''The Complete Book of the Summer Olympics'',

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

: Sport Classic Books. Just about a month before the

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

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 organizatio ...

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 Volmari Iso-Hollo and Lasse Virtanen in the 10 000 m, with a world season's best time of 30:11.4. Kusociński won the British

AAA Championships The AAA Championships was an annual track and field competition organised by the Amateur Athletic Association of England. It was the foremost domestic athletics event in the United Kingdom during its lifetime, despite the existence of the offi ...

title in the 3 miles event at the 1934 AAA Championships. After finishing second in the first European Championships at

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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 Germans (, ) are the natives or inhabitants of Germany, or sometimes more broadly any people who are of German descent or native speakers of the German language. The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, constitution of Germany, imple ...

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 (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, 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 F ...

on 26 March 1940 during the AB Action and imprisoned in

Mokotów Prison Mokotów Prison (, 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 Poland. During the Nazi Ge ...

. 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, Nowy Dwór County, Masovian Voivodeship, in east-central Poland. It is located at the edge of the Kampinos Forest, approxima ...

, 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 and International Association of Athletics Federations and formerly abbreviated as the IAAF, is the international sports governing body, governing body for the sport ...

. 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 (, ) 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 alien (law), foreigners for outstanding achievements in ...

, "for outstanding contribution to the independence of the Polish Republic, for sporting achievements in the field of athletics".

References

External links

* * * {{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 20th-century Polish sportsmen