Ryszard Tomaszewski
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Ryszard Tomaszewski (born 20 August 1951) is a retired
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 ...
Paralympic powerlifter,
discus throw The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field event in which an athlete throws a heavy disk (mathematics), disc—called a discus—in an attempt to mark a farther distance than their competitors. It is an classical antiqui ...
er and
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 ...
ter. He was a triple Paralympic champion in powerlifting and a two-time medalist in athletics.


Life changing accident

In 1971, he was involved in an accident at work in Żelazno where he and a team of other geologists went to research the construction of a bridge near the town. A 800kg chisel from a
drilling tower A drilling rig is an integrated system that drills wells, such as oil or water wells, or holes for piling and other construction purposes, into the earth's subsurface. Drilling rigs can be massive structures housing equipment used to drill wat ...
fell onto him and a drill technician, the mechanical instrument hit the technician on the head and hit Tomaszewski's back. The pier that they both stood on collapsed and they fell into the water. They were both rescued from the water but they were both unconscious, the technician had lost a lot of blood from the accident but Tomaszewski had a suspected broken
vertebra The spinal column, a defining synapomorphy shared by nearly all vertebrates,Hagfish are believed to have secondarily lost their spinal column is a moderately flexible series of vertebrae (singular vertebra), each constituting a characteristic ...
. The two casualties were thrown into the back of a car and were taken to hospital in
Kłodzko Kłodzko (; cz, Kladsko; german: Glatz; la, Glacio) is a historic town in south-western Poland, in the region of Lower Silesia. It is situated in the centre of the Kłodzko Valley, on the Eastern Neisse river. Kłodzko is the seat of Kłodzko Co ...
, halfway through the journey, the technician was taken by ambulance and went to the nearest hospital while Tomaszewski was still in the car, he described the road as very bumpy and the car was travelling very fast. Once he reached to the nearest hospital, the doctor who examined him confirmed that he had suffered a
spinal cord injury A spinal cord injury (SCI) is damage to the spinal cord that causes temporary or permanent changes in its function. Symptoms may include loss of muscle function, sensation, or autonomic function in the parts of the body served by the spinal cor ...
. Tomaszewski was in an
induced coma An induced comaalso known as a medically induced coma (MIC), barbiturate-induced coma, or drug-induced comais a temporary coma (a deep state of unconsciousness) brought on by a controlled dose of an anesthetic drug, often a barbiturate such as ...
in a hospital in
Wrocław Wrocław (; german: Breslau, or . ; Silesian German: ''Brassel'') is a city in southwestern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the River Oder in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe, rou ...
to receive treatment and received rehabilitation in
Konstancin Konstancin is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Góra Świętej Małgorzaty, within Łęczyca County, Łódź Voivodeship, in central Poland. It lies approximately north-east of Łęczyca and north of the regional capital Łó ...
.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tomaszewski, Ryszard 1951 births Living people Paralympic powerlifters for Poland Paralympic athletes for Poland Polish male discus throwers Polish male shot putters Athletes (track and field) at the 1984 Summer Paralympics Powerlifters at the 1988 Summer Paralympics Powerlifters at the 1992 Summer Paralympics Powerlifters at the 1996 Summer Paralympics Powerlifters at the 2000 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 1980 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 1984 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 1988 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 1992 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 1996 Summer Paralympics Wheelchair discus throwers Wheelchair shot putters Paralympic discus throwers Paralympic shot putters People from Kalisz County Sportspeople from Greater Poland Voivodeship