Oto Yanovich Grigalka (russian: Отто Янович Григалка; 28 June 1925 – 8 February 1993) was a

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

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

shot put The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. The shot put competition for men has been a part of the modern Olympics since their revival in 1896, and women's ...

and discus throw. He represented the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

at the

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

in 1952 and 1956. He placed fourth in the shot put and sixth in the discus in 1952,then came fifth at the 1956 Olympic discus competition.Oto Grigalka
Sports Reference. Retrieved on 2016-04-11. Grigalka was twice a medallist for the Soviet Union at the European Athletics Championships, taking shot put bronze in

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 cr ...

, then the shot put silver in

1954 Events January * January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany. * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The fir ...

. He also competed in the discus at the latter edition, placing sixth.Otto Grigalka
Track and Field Brinkster. Retrieved on 2016-04-11. He was highly successful as a student-athlete at the

World Festival of Youth and Students The World Festival of Youth and Students is an international event organized by the World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY) and the International Union of Students after 1947. History The festival has been held regularly since 1947 as an eve ...

, taking three consecutive shot put silver medals before winning the gold medal in 1955. At national level he was a seven-time winner at the

Soviet Athletics Championships The Soviet Athletics Championships (russian: link=no, Чемпионат СССР по лёгкой атлетике) was an annual outdoor track and field competition organised by the Soviet Athletics Federation, which served as the Soviet natio ...

, taking three straight shot put titles from 1952 to 1954 and going undefeated in the discus throw from 1953 to 1956. During his career he was a member of the

Dynamo Moscow MGO VFSO "Dynamo" (russian: МГО ВФСО «Динамо»), commonly known as Dynamo Moscow (russian: Динамо Москва) is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. Founded by Felix Dzerzhinsky on 18 April 1923, Dynamo Moscow was the first ...

sports club and was trained by Leonīds Mitropoļskis. He later went into coaching and was throws coach to the 1964 Olympic Soviet team.Oto Grigalka
Latvian Olympic Association. Retrieved on 2016-04-11. His personal bests were for the shot put (achieved during his 1954 European silver medal performance) and , achieved in

Kharkov Kharkiv ( uk, Ха́рків, ), also known as Kharkov (russian: Харькoв, ), is the second-largest city and municipality in Ukraine.

in 1958. He was highly ranked in the discus throw during the latter part of his career, placing third on the world seasonal lists for the event in 1955 and 1958. His best yearly placing in the shot put was fifth, which he achieved in both 1951 and 1954. He was born and died in Saikava, a small village in Latvia's

Madona Municipality Madona Municipality ( lv, Madonas novads) is a municipality in Vidzeme, Latvia. The administrative center is Madona. The total area of the municipality is , and the population in January 2013 was 26,953.Madona municipality Population Register Of ...

. He married a fellow Soviet track athlete,

Mariya Pisareva Mariya Pisareva (russian: Мария Писарева; born 9 April 1934) is a retired Soviet Union athlete who competed mainly in the High Jump. She trained at Zenit in Moscow She competed in the 1956 Summer Olympics held in Melbourne, Austr ...

who won an Olympic high jump medal.

International competitions

National titles

**Shot put: 1952, 1953, 1954 **Discus throw: 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grigalka, Oto 1925 births 1993 deaths Latvian male shot putters Soviet male shot putters Latvian male discus throwers Soviet male discus throwers Latvian sports coaches Soviet athletics coaches Olympic athletes for the Soviet Union Athletes (track and field) at the 1952 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1956 Summer Olympics European Athletics Championships medalists People from Madona Municipality

International competitions

National titles

See also

References