Tomasz Majewski (born 30 August 1981) is a Polish

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 and a double

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

gold medalist A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have be ...

. He is the third shot putter to successfully defend the Olympic title, first European to do so, and the first since

Parry O'Brien William Patrick "Parry" O'Brien (January 28, 1932 – April 21, 2007) was an American shot put champion. He competed in four consecutive Summer Olympics where he won two gold medals (1952, 1956) and one silver medal (1960). In his last Olympic c ...

in 1956.

Career

Majewski stands at 204 cm (6' 8") tall and weighs 140 kg (300 lb). During the Olympic final in Beijing on 15 August 2008, he threw 21.51 meters for the gold medal, Poland's first Olympic medal in shot put since 1972 when the late

Władysław Komar Władysław Stefan Komar (11 April 1940 – 17 August 1998) was a Polish shot putter, actor and cabaretist. Competing in three Summer Olympics between 1964 and 1972, he won the gold medal at the Munich Games in 1972 with a throw of 21.18 metre ...

took the gold. Majewski was also the first Pole to win gold at the 2008 Olympics. On 25 July 2009 in Barcelona he threw a personal best of 21.64 m and few days later in

DN Galan BAUHAUS-galan, formerly known as DN-Galan is an annual, international athletics meeting that takes place at the Olympic Stadium in Stockholm. Previously it was one of the five IAAF Super Grand Prix events until 2010, and has since been part of th ...

Stockholm, Sweden Stockholm () is the capital and largest city of Sweden as well as the largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people live in the municipality, with 1.6 million in the urban area, and 2.4 million in the metropoli ...

he improved upon this with a throw of 21.95 m, a new Polish record. At the

2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics was held between 12 and 14 March at the Aspire Dome in Doha, Qatar. The championships was the first of six IAAF World Athletics Series events to take place in 2010. Bidding and organisation Th ...

he threw a personal best and Polish indoor record of 21.20 m. However, the level of competition was so high that this was only enough for fifth place behind a Canadian record-breaking

Dylan Armstrong Dylan Armstrong (born January 15, 1981) is a Canadian shot putter. He is a two-time Pan American Games champion, a former Commonwealth Games champion and has also won world championship silver and bronze medals. He was awarded the bronze medal ...

. It was the first time in championships history that five men had gone beyond the 21 m mark. In the outdoor season, Majewski competed at the

2010 European Athletics Championships The 2010 European Athletics Championships were the 20th edition of the European Athletics Championships, organised under the supervision of the European Athletic Association. They were held at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys in Barcelona, Cat ...

and won the shot put silver medal. His 21-metre throw was beaten by a single centimetre as

Andrei Mikhnevich Andrei Anatolyevich Mikhnevich ( be, Андрэй Анатолевіч Міхневіч, Andrej Michnievič, russian: Андрей Анатольевич Михневич; born 12 July 1976 in Babruysk) is a Belarusian shot putter with a personal ...

took the title. He had shoulder surgery in the latter half of the year. Focusing on the 2011 season, he said that the strong form of his opponents was more of an inspiration than an obstacle: "

Christian Cantwell Christian Cantwell (born September 30, 1980 in Jefferson City, Missouri) is a World Champion American shot putter. He placed 4th at the 2012 London Summer Olympics. Biography Cantwell's personal best throw is 22.54 metres, or 73 ft 11½ i ...

and Reese Hoffa othwent over 22 metres last year, the good performances of my rivals doesn't make me angry or worried, instead it acts as the best sort of motivation to get up to their level". At the

2011 European Team Championships The third European Team Championships, took place on 18 and 19 June 2011. The Competition was divided between four divisions, with results determining promotion and relegation between them. The Super League event was held in Stockholm, at the Sto ...

he was the silver medallist behind David Storl and while his young German rival went on to win at the

2011 World Championships in Athletics The 13th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () was an international athletics competition that was held in Daegu, South Korea. It started on 27 August 2011 and finished on 4 September 2011. The United States topped the medal standings in th ...

, Majewski managed only ninth place with a best throw of 20.18 m. At the start of 2012 he broke his own Polish indoor record at the BW-Bank Meeting in

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. ...

with a winning mark of 21.27 m. In London 2012 he won the gold medal with a mark of 21.89 m and he became the first male shot-put thrower to defend his Olympic title since

achieved that in

Melbourne 1956 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 ...

Hobbies

His hobbies include

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

and playing

video games Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...

National honours

For his sport achievements, he received:
POL Polonia Restituta Kawalerski BAR

Knight's Cross of the

Order of Polonia Restituta The Order of Polonia Restituta ( pl, Order Odrodzenia Polski, en, Order of Restored Poland) 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 al ...

(5th Class) in 2008.
POL Polonia Restituta Oficerski BAR

Officer's Cross of the

(4th Class) in 2009.

Personal bests

*Outdoor – 21.95 m (2009) *Indoor – 21.72 m (2012) His best attempt was in Sweden DN Galan (21.65 m, 21.95 m, 21.44 m, x, x, 21.83 m).

Achievements

Tomasz Majewski 2010-06-04 Bislett Games - cropped

References

External links

*
Poland's Majewski ready to bask in the Barcelona Sun
* /www.youtube.com/watch?v=FggRK3_8VP0 Tomasz Majewski gold medal at London 2012 Olympics, on official Olympic channel {{DEFAULTSORT:Majewski, Tomasz 1981 births Living people People from Nasielsk Sportspeople from Masovian Voivodeship Polish male shot putters Olympic athletes of Poland Olympic gold medalists for Poland Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics World Athletics Championships athletes for Poland World Athletics Championships medalists European Athletics Championships medalists Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) Skra Warszawa athletes Universiade gold medalists for Poland Medalists at the 2005 Summer Universiade