Barbara Sobotta

Barbara Sobotta

Barbara Sobotta (born December 4, 1936 in Poznan , † November 20, 2000 in Krakow ) was a Polish sprinter . She started under her maiden name Barbara Lerczak until 1956 ; after her first marriage, she started as Barbara Janiszewska in 1958 and 1960 . Sobotta took part in three European championships and three Olympic Games. The 1.63 m tall athlete won ten Polish championships in the 200-meter run and four titles in the 100-meter run from 1953 to 1963 .

Life

At the European Championships in 1954 in Bern she was Barbara Lerczak in 24.4 s fourth over 200 meters, in the 100-meter run she was eliminated in 12.2 s in the semifinals. In the 4 x 100 meter relay , she finished fifth with the Polish team in 47.1 s.

In Melbourne at the Olympic Games in 1956 , she was eliminated over 100 meters and in the relay in each case in the run-up. Over 200 meters she reached the semi-finals, but could not qualify for the final in 25.2 s.

At the European Championships in Stockholm in 1958 , she was eliminated as Barbara Janiszewska over 100 meters in 12.1 s in the semi-finals. Over 200 meters, she won the European title in 24.1 seconds with two tenths of a second ahead of Hannelore Sadau from the GDR and Marija Itkina from the Soviet Union. The Polish relay was third behind the relays from the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom in 46.0 s.

In 1960 at the Olympic Games in Rome , she finished fifth over 200 meters in 24.8 s, after running 23.9 s in the preliminary run and 24.2 s in the semifinals. With the Polish relay she won bronze in 45.0 seconds behind the teams from the USA and Germany.

At the European Championships in Belgrade in 1962 she was third over 200 meters in 23.9 s behind the German Jutta Heine and the British Dorothy Hyman , who had won the 100-meter title. In the season finale, the Polish women in the line-up Teresa Ciepły , Sobotta, Elżbieta Szyroka and Maria Piątkowska set a European record with 44.5 seconds, ahead of the Germans and the British, who both ran national records.

Barbara Sobotta had her last big appearance in 1964 at the Olympic Games in Tokyo . In 23.9 s she was sixth in the 200 meter final. In the Polish relay she was not used for their Olympic victory. The young Irena Kirszenstein ran in her regular position on the back straight .

After her marriages with the pole vaulter Zbigniew Janiszewski and the high jumper Piotr Sobotta, she married the actor Jan Nowicki . After her active career, she ran a theater café in Krakow.

Top performances

• 100 meters: 11.4 s (1963)
• 200 meters: 23.6 s (1960 and 1964)

literature

• Peter Matthews (ed): Athletics 2001 . Worcester 2001 ISBN 1-899807-11-X
• Ekkehard zur Megede: The Modern Olympic Century 1896-1996 Track and Field Athletics . Berlin 1999, published by the German Society for Athletics Documentation eV