Elżbieta Maria Krzesińska (née Duńska; November 11, 1934 – December 29, 2015) was a

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

athlete from Poland, 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 ...

. Born in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

, she competed for her native country at the

1956 Summer Olympics The 1956 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XVI Olympiad and officially branded as Melbourne 1956, were an international multi-sport event held in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, from 22 November to 8 December ...

held in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, Australia where she won the gold medal in the Women's Long Jump. She returned to the

1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad () and commonly known as Rome 1960 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 25 August to 11 September 1960 in Rome, Italy. Rome had previously been awar ...

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

but failed to defend her title, finishing second behind

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

Vera Krepkina. She won the Polish championships in Long Jump (1952, 1953, 1954, 1957, 1959, 1962, 1963), 80m Hurdles (1957), and Pentathlon (1953, 1962). Duńska-Krzesińska participated in three

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

. In 1952, she took 12th place in long jump at the 15th Olympic Games in Helsinki. In 1956, she won gold medal at the 16th Olympic Games in Melbourne. In 1960, she won silver medal, behind Vera Krepkina, at the 17th Olympic Games in Rome. In 1954, she took 3rd, behind Jean Desforges, and Aleksandra Chudina, at the 5th

European Championships in Athletics The European Athletics Championships is a biennial (from 2010) athletics (sport), athletics event organised by the European Athletic Association and is recognised as the elite continental outdoor athletics championships for Europe. Editions F ...

in Bern. In 1954, she won both in long jump and pentathlon at World Student Games in Budapest. In August 1956, she broke the world record in long jump (6.35) in Budapest, and equal in November 1956 in the Melbourne Olympics. In 1959, she won at the 1st

Universiade The FISU World University Games, formerly the Universiade, is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The former name is a Blend word, portmanteau of the wor ...

in Turin. In 1962, she took 2nd, behind Tatyana Shchelkanova, at the 7th

European Athletics Championships The European Athletics Championships is a biennial (from 2010) athletics event organised by the European Athletic Association and is recognised as the elite continental outdoor athletics championships for Europe. Editions First held, for me ...

in Belgrade. She was married to fellow Olympian Andrzej Krzesiński and they competed together at the

. She lived in the United States of America from 1981 until 2000, then she came back to Poland. She died on 29 December 2015 after long illness.

References

External links

* 1934 births 2015 deaths Polish female long jumpers Olympic gold medalists for Poland Olympic silver medalists for Poland Athletes (track and field) at the 1952 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1956 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1960 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Poland Athletes from Warsaw European Athletics Championships medalists Medalists at the 1956 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1960 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field) Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) Skra Warszawa athletes FISU World University Games gold medalists for Poland Medalists at the 1959 Summer Universiade Medalists at the 1961 Summer Universiade Polish Athletics Championships winners 20th-century Polish sportswomen {{Poland-longjump-athletics-bio-stub