Józef Szmidt (born 28 March 1935 as Josef Schmidt) is a former

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

athlete. He was born in Miechowitz,

Beuthen Bytom (Polish pronunciation: ; Silesian: ''Bytōm, Bytōń'', german: Beuthen O.S.) is a city in Upper Silesia, in southern Poland. Located in the Silesian Voivodeship of Poland, the city is 7 km northwest of Katowice, the regional capita ...

Province of Upper Silesia The Province of Upper Silesia (german: Provinz Oberschlesien; Silesian German: ''Provinz Oberschläsing''; szl, Prowincyjŏ Gōrny Ślōnsk; pl, Prowincja Górny Śląsk) was a province of the Free State of Prussia from 1919 to 1945. It comprise ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. With a jump of 17.03m in 1960, Szmidt was the first triple jumper to reach 17 metres.

Biography

Szmidt, a mechanic by profession, was the world's leading

triple jump The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to the long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down th ...

er in the early 1960s, becoming European champion in 1958 and 1962, and Olympic champion in 1960 and 1964. The two latter years he was awarded the ''Sportsman of the Year'' prize in Poland. In 1975 Szmidt settled in

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

, but returned to Poland in 1992. He is the brother of track and field athlete Edward Szmidt, who competed at the

1956 Summer Olympics The 1956 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVI Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, from 22 November to 8 December 1956, with the exception of the equestrian events, whi ...

References

External links

* * * * 1935 births Living people Polish male triple jumpers People from the Province of Upper Silesia Sportspeople from Bytom Olympic athletes of Poland Olympic gold medalists for Poland Athletes (track and field) at the 1960 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1964 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1968 Summer Olympics World record setters in athletics (track and field) European Athletics Championships medalists Polish people of German descent Medalists at the 1964 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1960 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Śląsk Wrocław athletes {{Poland-athletics-bio-stub

Biography

See also

References

External links