Waldemar Romuald Baszanowski (15 August 1935 – 29 April 2011) was a Polish lightweight (-67.5 kg) weightlifter. In 1969, he was chosen the

Polish Sportspersonality of the Year The Polish Sports Personality of the Year (Polish: ''Plebiscyt Przeglądu Sportowego na najlepszego polskiego sportowca roku'') is chosen annually since 1926 by the readers of the newspaper ''Przegląd Sportowy'', which makes it the second oldest s ...

Biography

Baszanowski was born in

Grudziądz Grudziądz ( la, Graudentum, Graudentium, german: Graudenz) is a city in northern Poland, with 92,552 inhabitants (2021). Located on the Vistula River, it lies within the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship and is the fourth-largest city in its prov ...

on 15 August 1935. A month after his 25th birthday he competed for the World Championships in his sport. He became over the course of the next ten years the most decorated lightweight weightlifter at international level in the first century of its widespread competition, the 20th century. Baszanowski set 24 world and 61 national records. He won gold medals at the 1964 and 1968 Olympics, five world championships and five silver medals, giving him a total of 10 medals, more than any weightlifter in history (to date). His first wife Anita was killed in a car accident in 1969, 8 July, in which he was the driver; Baszanowski and his son survived. In 1993 Baszanowski was inducted into the

International Weightlifting Federation The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF), headquartered in Lausanne, is the international governing body for the sport of Olympic weightlifting. The IWF was founded in 1905, and has 192 Member Federations. The IWF President is Mohammed H ...

Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...

. In 1999, he became the President of the European Weightlifting Federation. In 2007, Baszanowski fell off a tree in his garden, broke his back and was paralyzed from the neck down. After four years of immobility, he died in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

at the age of 75 on 29 April 2011. He is buried at the

Służew New Cemetery The Służew New Cemetery ( pl, Nowy cmentarz na Służewie) is a Roman Catholic cemetery in Warsaw's Mokotów district, Poland. The cemetery is located at Wałbrzyska Street. The cemetery was established in 1900. From 30 June to 10 July 2014, t ...

References

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* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Baszanowski, Waldemar 1935 births 2011 deaths Polish male weightlifters Olympic gold medalists for Poland Olympic weightlifters for Poland Olympic medalists in weightlifting Weightlifters at the 1960 Summer Olympics Weightlifters at the 1964 Summer Olympics Weightlifters at the 1968 Summer Olympics Weightlifters at the 1972 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1968 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1964 Summer Olympics World Weightlifting Championships medalists People from Grudziądz Sportspeople from Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship