Mirosława Kazimiera Sarna (née Sałacińska; born 8 June 1942) is a Polish former

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

athlete who competed in the

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

, short

sprint Sprint may refer to: Aerospace *Spring WS202 Sprint, a Canadian aircraft design *Sprint (missile), an anti-ballistic missile Automotive and motorcycle *Alfa Romeo Sprint, automobile produced by Alfa Romeo between 1976 and 1989 *Chevrolet Sprint, ...

s and the

women's pentathlon The pentathlon or women's pentathlon is a combined track and field event in which each woman competes in five separate events over one day (formerly two days). The distance or time for each event is converted to points via scoring tables, with ...

. She was the gold medallist in the long jump at the

1969 European Athletics Championships The 9th European Athletics Championships were held from 16–21 September 1969 in the Karaiskaki Stadium of Athens, the capital of Greece. New at these championships were the women's 1500 metres and the women's 4×400 metres relay event. Moreover, ...

and was twice a bronze medallist in that discipline at the

European Athletics Indoor Championships The European Athletics Indoor Championships is a biennial indoor track and field competition for European athletes that is organised by the European Athletic Association. It was held for the first time in 1970, replacing the European Indoor Games, ...

. An 8-time Polish national champion, she represented her country at the

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1968), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XIX Olimpiada) and commonly known as Mexico 1968 ( es, México 1968), were an international multi-sport eve ...

. Her long jump best was .

Career

Sarna was born in

Łódź Łódź, also rendered in English as Lodz, is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located approximately south-west of Warsaw. The city's coat of arms is an example of canti ...

to Stefana Sałacińska and Józef Sałaciński and studied at the city's XVIII high school. She took up track and field in her youth, joining the Ogniwa

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competiti ...

club in 1955 and made her international debut for Poland in 1959. She continued to study during this period and ultimately gained a master's degree in

physical education Physical education, often abbreviated to Phys Ed. or P.E., is a subject taught in schools around the world. It is usually taught during primary and secondary education, and encourages psychomotor learning by using a play and movement explorati ...

. She married her coach, Edmund Sarna, in 1968 and began competing under her married from that point onwards.Mirosława Sarna
. Polish Olympic Committee. Retrieved on 2015-12-20. Sarna's first national title was in the long jump in 1964 and her performance of equalled the championship record. After that she had a national win in the

in 1966, amassing a score of 4332 points. She was chosen to represent Poland in that event at the

1966 European Athletics Championships The 8th European Athletics Championships were held from 30 August to 4 September 1966 in the Stadium Puskás Ferenc, Nép Stadium in Budapest, Hungarian People's Republic, Hungary. Contemporaneous reports on the event were given in the Glasgow Hera ...

and placed 15th.European Athletics Championships Zürich 2014 - STATISTICS HANDBOOK

European Athletics Association The European Athletic Association (more commonly known as European Athletics) is the governing body for athletics in Europe. It is one of the six Area Associations of the world's athletics governing body World Athletics. European Athletics has 51 ...

, pp. 397-405. Retrieved on 2015-12-21. After a win in the

200 metres The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightl ...

at the

Polish Athletics Championships The Polish Athletics Championships ( pl, Mistrzostwa Polski seniorów w lekkoatletyce) is an annual outdoor track and field competition organised by the Polish Athletic Association (PZLA), which serves as the Polish national championship for the sp ...

in 1967, she transitioned into a sprint and long jump specialist. A second Polish long jump title in 1968 gained her selection for the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, being one of two Polish entrants alongside

Irena Szewińska Irena Szewińska (née Kirszenstein; Polish pronunciation: ; 24 May 1946 – 29 June 2018) was a Polish Sprint (running), sprinter who was one of the world's foremost athletes for nearly two decades, in multiple events. She is the only athl ...

. She achieved a personal best there, recording to take fifth place in the final.Mirosława Sarna
Sports Reference. Retrieved on 2015-12-21. The 1969 season proved to be the best of Sarna's career. She won a 200 metres/long jump double at the national championships. She was entered in three events for the

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

: the long jump,

100 metres The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been conteste ...

and the

4 × 100 metres relay The 4 × 100 metres relay or sprint relay is an athletics track event run in lanes over one lap of the track with four runners completing 100 metres each. The first runners must begin in the same stagger as for the individu ...

. In the long jump, she again improved her best in championship competition and her mark of was enough to beat the reigning Olympic champion

Viorica Viscopoleanu Viorica Viscopoleanu (née Belmega on 8 August 1939) is a retired Romanian long jumper athlete. She competed at the 1964, 1968 and 1972 Olympics and won a gold medal in 1968, setting a new world record. At the European championships she won a si ...

and secure the first and only international gold medal of her career. She reached the semi-finals of the 100 m and ran the anchor leg of the relay to bring the team of Krystyna Mandecka, Danuta Jędrejek and Urszula Jóźwik to fifth in the final. Following her European Championships success, she won two further continental medals: at the

1970 European Athletics Indoor Championships The 1970 European Athletics Indoor Championships were held in 1970 at Wiener Stadthalle, Vienna, the capital of Austria, between 14–15 March 1970. It replaced the European Indoor Games, an indoor athletics competition which had been held since 19 ...

she jumped a lifetime best of to take the bronze medal just two centimetres behind Viscopoleanu. The runner-up,

Heide Rosendahl Heidemarie Ecker-Rosendahl (; ; born 14 February 1947) is a retired German athlete who competed mainly in the pentathlon and long jump. On September 3, 1970, at the 1970 Summer Universiade in Turin, she set a world record in the long jump at 6. ...

, succeeded Sarna as European champion a year later. The quality of the competition was not as high at the

1973 European Athletics Indoor Championships The 1973 European Athletics Indoor Championships were held between 10 and 11 March 1973 in Rotterdam, Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision ...

and despite only having a mark of she was again third on the podium, this time behind

Diana Yorgova Dianа Yorgova ( bg, Диана Йоргова) (born 9 December 1942 in Lovech) is a former Bulgarian athlete, who competed mainly in the Long Jump. She competed for Bulgaria at the 1972 Summer Olympics held in Munich, Germany in the Long Ju ...

and

Jarmila Nygrýnová Jarmila Nygrýnová-Strejčková (15 February 1953 – 5 January 1999) was a long jumper from the Czech Republic, representing Czechoslovakia. She won six medals at the European Athletics Indoor Championships as well as a bronze medal at the 1978 Eu ...

. She also ran in the

60 metres 60 metres, or 60-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field. It is a championship event for indoor championships, normally dominated by the best outdoor 100 metres runners. At outdoor venues it is a rare distance, at least for senior at ...

at the 1970 edition, placing fifth.Miroslawa Sarna
Track and Field Brinkster. Retrieved on 2015-12-21. Sarna's final national titles came in the 1973 season when she was Poland's long jump champion both indoors and outdoors. Her indoor winning mark of remained the championship record until 1978, when it was improved by Anna Włodarczyk. Sarna made the last of her 47 international appearances in the 1973 season. After retiring from the sport, she went into education as a coach and physical education teacher.

National titles

**200 m: 1967, 1969Polish Championships
GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2015-12-20. **Long jump: 1964, 1968, 1969, 1973 **Pentathlon: 1966 *Polish Indoor Championships **Long jump: 1973
GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2015-12-20.

International competitions

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sarna, Miroslawa Living people 1942 births Sportspeople from Łódź Polish female long jumpers Polish female sprinters Polish pentathletes Olympic athletes of Poland Athletes (track and field) at the 1968 Summer Olympics European Athletics Championships medalists Universiade silver medalists in athletics (track and field) Universiade silver medalists for Poland

Career

National titles

International competitions

See also

References