Władysław Kozakiewicz (; born 8 December 1953) is a

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

n-born retired Polish athlete who specialised in the

pole vault Pole vaulting, also known as pole jumping, is a track and field event in which an athlete uses a long and flexible pole, usually made from fiberglass or carbon fiber, as an aid to jump over a #bar, bar. Pole jumping was already practiced by the ...

. He is best known for winning the gold medal at the

1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad () and officially branded as Moscow 1980 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1980 in Moscow, Soviet Union, in present-day Russ ...

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and the

bras d'honneur Bras d'honneur (From French; ) is an obscene gesture used to express contempt. It is roughly equivalent in meaning to phrases like "fuck you" or "up yours", similar to the finger gesture. To perform the gesture, an arm is bent in an L-shape, ...

gesture which he showed to the hostile Soviet crowd. In Poland, where the gesture was viewed as a symbol of resistance against Soviet dominance, it became known as "Kozakiewicz's gesture" (). In addition, he won several medals at continental level, won two

Summer 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 portmanteau of the words "Universi ...

s and broke the pole vault world record three times, twice outdoors and once indoors. He is also a ten-time Polish champion.

Early years

Kozakiewicz was born on 8 December 1953 to a Polish family in

Šalčininkai Šalčininkai (; ; ''Solechnik''; ) is a City (Lithuania), city in Vilnius County, in south-eastern Lithuania, situated south-east of Vilnius, near the border with Belarus. Etymology The name of the city derives from Šalčia river, ''šalta'' ...

Lithuanian SSR The Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic (Lithuanian SSR; ; ), also known as Soviet Lithuania or simply Lithuania, was '' de facto'' one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union between 1940–1941 and 1944–1990. After 1946, its terr ...

, near

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as the fourth and youngest of four siblings. His father Stanisław was a tailor, his mother Franciszka a housewife. As he revealed in his 2013 autobiography, he was physically abused by his father during his childhood as was his entire family. The family moved to Poland in 1958 as part of the last wave of the post-war repatriations of Poles living in the Soviet Union, first staying in a refugee camp in

Gryfice Gryfice (pronounced ; )". 1880. is a historic town in Pomerania, north-western Poland, with 16,600 inhabitants (2017). It is the capital of Gryfice County in West Pomeranian Voivodeship. The town is situated approximately 22 kilometres from the B ...

before settling in

Gdynia Gdynia is a city in northern Poland and a seaport on the Baltic Sea coast. With an estimated population of 257,000, it is the List of cities in Poland, 12th-largest city in Poland and the second-largest in the Pomeranian Voivodeship after Gdańsk ...

where Władysław's father found a job as a dockworker.

Athletics career

Władysław's older brother Edward (b. 1948) was an aspiring pole vaulter (later switched to decathlon) at the local club, Bałtyk Gdynia, and one day in 1966 encouraged his then 13-year-old brother to also give athletics a try. He showed his brother how to pole vault and Władysław's talent was soon noticed by Walenty Wejman who became his first coach. In 1972 Władysław Kozakiewicz broke Polish junior records both indoors and out, also breaking the 5 metres barrier for the first time. A year later, after changing the coach to Ryszard Tomaszewski, he broke the Polish senior record with 5.35 metres and made his major international debut taking silver at the 1974 European Championships in Rome. In 1975 at the

European Indoor Championships The European Indoor Championships was a men's tennis tournament played in Berlin, Germany. The event was played as part of the ATP Tour in 1990 and 1991. It was played on indoor carpet court A carpet court is a type of tennis court. The Intern ...

in Katowice, he won a bronze medal and later in the season at the Janusz Kusociński Memorial he jumped 5.60 metres setting a new European record.

The dominant years

At the

1976 Summer Olympics The 1976 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Montreal 1976 (), were an international multi-sport event held from July 17 to August 1, 1976, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Montreal ...

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, Kozakiewicz was one of the favourites for the gold but the Olympic debut ended in a disappointment. During a warm-up jump before the final, he ruptured his

joint capsule In anatomy, a joint capsule or articular capsule is an envelope surrounding a synovial joint.Tadeusz Ślusarski. Kozakiewicz was able to return to competition just three weeks after Montreal. Soon after, however, he was disqualified by the Polish Athletic Association (PZLA) for competing in the shoes of the Japanese manufacturer Onitsuka Tiger, with which he signed a contract a year earlier, instead of

Adidas Adidas AG (; stylized in all lowercase since 1949) is a German athletic apparel and footwear corporation headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, Germany. It is the largest sportswear manufacturer in Europe, and the second largest in the ...

, which was then the official sponsor of the federation. This resulted in Kozakiewicz being barred from competing abroad for six months and marked the beginning of a series of disputes with the national federation and bans for insubordination. The disqualification was eventually shortened so that Kozakiewicz could compete at the 1977 European Indoor Championships in San Sebastián which he won in a new championships record of 5.51 metres. This started a very successful season in which he, among others, won the

in Sofia and set a new European record of 5.66 metres in the

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by top-division European clubs. The competition begins with a round robi ...

semifinal in Warsaw. In the entire year he suffered only one loss, at the 1977 World Cup, where, representing Europe, he came second behind the American Mike Tully. The next season while again full of victories at various meetings, saw Kozakiewicz narrowly missing out on medals at two major international competitions. First he came fifth at the 1978 European Indoor Championships in Milan, and then, affected by an illness, fourth at the 1978 European Championships in Prague. The latter performance was deemed a big loss by the federation and he was handed another half-year disqualification. In 1979 Kozakiewicz won the

in Vienna, his second gold at this competition, improving the indoor European record to 5.58 metres. He later won the

1979 Summer Universiade The 1979 Summer Universiade, also known as the X Summer Universiade, took place in Mexico City, Mexico from 2 to 13 September. Sports * * * * * * * * * * Medal table References {{Universiade 1979 U U U Multi-sport events in ...

in Mexico City where at altitude he jumped 5.60 metres. The 1980 season did not start very well as he finished only fourth at the 1980 European Indoor Championships in Sindelfingen, West Germany, the competition won by the Soviet Konstantin Volkov, who would be Kozakiewicz's main rival at the upcoming Moscow Olympics. However, in May that year at a meeting in Milan, Kozakiewicz for the first time in his career broke the

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organizatio ...

with a mark of 5.72 metres. The record was later that summer bettered by two Frenchmen, first Thierry Vigneron added three centimetres to it and then Philippe Houvion another two, setting it at 5.77 metres.

Olympic gold and Kozakiewicz's gesture

The sporting level in the Olympic final which took place on 30 July 1980 at the Central Lenin Stadium in

, was significantly higher than four years earlier with no less than six athletes jumping higher than the previous Olympic record. The atmosphere at the stadium, however, as it was for the entire games was very hostile with the local Soviet crowd booing, hissing, and whistling at every non-Soviet competitor's attempt. Soviet officials even tried to disrupt Kozakiewicz by opening doors to the stadium during his jumps so wind conditions would disturb him. This irritated Kozakiewicz who, after jumping 5.70 metres, higher than any other competitor that day, showed the

gesture in defiance to the jeering spectators. He then repeated the gesture after clearing 5.75 metres which ensured his victory over the local favourite, Konstantin Volkov. He finally confirmed his dominance over the competition by breaking the world record with 5.78 meters. This was the first time since 1920 that the world record in pole vault was broken at the Olympic Games. The photos of the incident circled the globe, with the exception of the

Soviet Union 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 ...

and its satellites, although the event was broadcast live on TV in many countries of the Eastern Bloc. While international observers varied in their reaction to the incident, Kozakiewicz's act received much support in Polish society, which resented Soviet control over Eastern Europe (Poland was in the midst of labour strikes that led to the creation of the labour union

Solidarity Solidarity or solidarism is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. True solidarity means moving beyond individual identities and single issue politics ...

less than two months later). After the 1980 Olympics ended, the Soviet ambassador to Poland demanded that Kozakiewicz be stripped of his medal over his "insult to the

Soviet people The Soviet people () were the citizens and nationals of the Soviet Union. This demonym was presented in the ideology of the country as the "new historical unity of peoples of different nationalities" (). Nationality policy in the Soviet Union ...

". The official response of the Polish government was that Kozakiewicz's arm gesture had been an involuntary muscle spasm caused by his exertion. In an interview years later, Kozakiewicz gave his thoughts about the incident:

The Russian crowd was whistling... at any non-Russian contestant. They were whistling to distract us, you can only imagine the noise: 70,000 people at the Luzhniki Stadium, probably only 10,000 of them were tourists. It occurred to me that I'm the only person in the world who got whistled at for breaking the world record. So when I landed, I showed them this 'Polish shaft', the nicest one you can imagine. I expressed my anger at the whistling Soviet audience; nobody whistles in athletics. If you take a look at TV broadcasts, you find that people either clap rhythmically when they feel like it, or simply sit quietly.

After Moscow

In 1982, struggling to get into form after splitting from his long-time coach Ryszard Tomaszewski, Kozakiewicz won what would be his last medal for Poland, a bronze at the 1982 European Indoor Championships in Milan. In the summer, he decided to skip the outdoor

European Championships A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

citing poor form, for which he received another 6-month disqualification from PZLA. The following 1983 season did not begin well for Kozakiewicz as he finished only 9th at the 1983 European Indoor Championships in Budapest. After that poor showing he reunited with coach Tomaszewski and tried to build form for the 1983 World Championships in Helsinki. He eventually finished eighth in that event clearing 5.40 metres. In the Olympic year of 1984, Kozakiewicz jumped much better reaching 5.75 metres in July. However, due to a Soviet-led

boycott A boycott is an act of nonviolent resistance, nonviolent, voluntary abstention from a product, person, organisation, or country as an expression of protest. It is usually for Morality, moral, society, social, politics, political, or Environmenta ...

of the Los Angeles Olympics most athletes from the Eastern bloc could not compete in the Games. Instead, an alternative event was organised for the socialist countries, the

Friendship Games The 1984 Friendship Games, or Friendship-84 (, ''Druzhba-84''), was an international multi-sport event held between 2 July and 16 September 1984 in the Soviet Union and eight other Eastern Bloc states which boycotted the 1984 Summer Olympics in ...

, with men's athletics being contested in Moscow. Kozakiewicz, not willing to take part in what he saw as a farcical event, took only one successful attempt at 5.40 metres before feigning an injury and calling it quits. His performance angered the Polish federation which demanded that he immediately return to Poland from a meeting in Brussels in which he took part soon after the Friendship Games and after he refused he was disqualified again.

Defection to West Germany

Even after his disqualification ended in 1985, Kozakiewicz was not allowed to participate in meetings abroad unless he jumped 5.70 metres. Given he was recovering from a knee surgery this did not seem realistic and not being able to support his family he decided to flee Poland. He last competed for his native country in April in São Paulo and in July 1985 he defected to

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

. A move which was intended to be a temporary means to earn some money before retiring would later turn out to be permanent. He based himself in

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, and joined a local club where he also became a pole vaulting coach. In May 1986 Kozakiewicz gained West German citizenship as his wife's grandparents were born in Germany. Soon after he set a new West German record of 5.70 metres which lasted until 1994. In 1988 Kozakiewicz jumped 5.62 metres, the standard for the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, however, according to the rules, the Polish federation had to give him permission to compete for a new country at the Olympics, which it did not. Kozakiewicz retired from professional athletics in 1989.

After athletics

In the 1980s and 1990s apart from training young talents, he also worked as a manager for many professional athletes, mostly from the former

. Between 1998 and 2002 he was a member of the Gdynia city council. In 2011, he ran unsuccessfully for the Polish parliament from the lists of the

Polish People's Party The Polish People's Party (, PSL) is a conservative political party in Poland. It is currently led by Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz. Its history traces back to 1895, when it held the name People's Party, although its name was changed to the pre ...

Personal life

Since 1977 he has been married to Anna Kozakiewicz, a former swimmer. They have two daughters Katarzyna (b. 1979) and Małgorzata (b. 1983). In December 1986, he settled in

Bissendorf Bissendorf () is a municipality in the Osnabrück (district), district of Osnabrück, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated approximately 9 km southeast of Osnabrück. Population 14,700 (2020). It is divided into Bissendorf proper, Schle ...

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, northwestern Germany, where he lives to this day.Kozakiewicz/Pol 2013, p. 304.

International competitions

Season bests

*1969 – 3.85 *1971 – 4.65 *1972 – 5.02 *1973 – 5.35 *1974 – 5.38 *1975 – 5.60 *1976 – 5.62 *1977 – 5.66 *1978 – 5.62 *1979 – 5.61 *1980 – 5.78 *1981 – 5.62 *1982 – 5.60 *1983 – 5.62 *1984 – 5.70 *1985 – 5.55i *1986 – 5.70 *1987 – 5.65 *1988 – 5.55 *1989 – 5.50

References

External links

Kozakiewicz at sporting-heroes.net
*
Explaining Kozakiewicz's Gesture: Poland's Most Scandalous Arm
on Culture.pl {{DEFAULTSORT:Kozakiewicz, Wladyslaw 1953 births Living people Athletes (track and field) at the 1976 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1980 Summer Olympics World record setters in athletics (track and field) Olympic gold medalists for Poland Medalists at the 1980 Summer Olympics People from Šalčininkai Sportspeople from Vilnius County Lithuanian people of Polish descent Soviet people of Polish descent German people of Polish descent Soviet emigrants to Poland Polish emigrants to West Germany Polish defectors Polish male pole vaulters West German male pole vaulters European Athletics Championships medalists Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) FISU World University Games gold medalists for Poland Olympic athletes for Poland Medalists at the 1977 Summer Universiade Medalists at the 1979 Summer Universiade Naturalised athletes World Athletics Championships athletes for Poland Competitors at the 1984 Friendship Games Polish Athletics Championships winners West German Athletics Championships winners 20th-century Polish sportsmen