Franciszek Szymczyk

Franciszek Szymczyk

To person
Full name	Franciszek Ksawery Szymczyk
Date of birth	February 21, 1892
date of death	5th November 1976
nation	Poland
discipline	Railway (short term / endurance)
End of career	circa 1928
Societies)
	Warszawskie Towarzystwo Cyklistów
Most important successes
Olympic games 1924 - team pursuit
Last updated: October 15, 2018

Franciszek Ksawery Szymczyk (born February 21, 1892 in Lemberg , † November 5, 1976 in Warsaw ) was a Polish chemist , cyclist and cycling official.

biography

Professional

Szymczyk was a trained chemist. He graduated from the Polytechnic in Kiev , was an assistant at the Institute of Chemistry at the University of Agriculture in Bydgoszcz and headed the forensic laboratory of the Police Headquarters in Warsaw in 1921 and 1922. From 1921 to 1963 he worked as head of the toxicological laboratory in the department for food and object research and worked for the national hygiene institute (PZH). In 1946 he published a manual on toxicological analysis and continued to work forensics . He is considered a pioneer in research into food contamination.

Cycling career

In 1921 and 1922 Franciszek Szymczyk was Polish champion in the sprint on the track . In 1923 he took part in the rail world championships in Zurich with Tomasz Stankiewicz , Wiktor Höchsmann , Wiktor Ryl ( Iko ) and Józef Lange . In the following year he started in two disciplines at the Olympic Games in Paris : In the sprint he was eliminated in the quarterfinals, in the team pursuit he won the silver medal together with Józef Lange, Jan Łazarski and Tomasz Stankiewicz, after the Polish four in the final won the favored Italian one Team lost by eight seconds. This was the first Olympic medal in cycling for Poland.

Szymczyk has been on the podium several times at Polish championships, as recently as 1930, at the age of 38, he took fourth place (discipline unknown). At the Olympic Games in Amsterdam in 1928 , he was a member of the Polish team and played qualifying races, but was not used in the main competitions.

Act as a functionary

As a member of the Warszawskie Towarzystwo Cyklistów association , Szymczyk campaigned for the construction of cycle paths from 1910. He was a member of the Presidium of the Polish National Olympic Committee , Vice President of the Commissaires' Association of the Polish Cycling Federation and editor of the fortnightly magazine Kolarz Polski . He has also published books on cycling and toxicology .

After the Second World War , Franciszek Szymczyk was again involved in the Polish Cycling Federation, as a sports director, organizer and commissioner, for example in the International Peace Tour .

Szymczyk rode his bike through Warsaw until he was old. He died at the age of 84 and is buried in the Powązki cemetery (section 215, row 6, place 14).

successes

1921

• Polish champion - sprint

1922

• Polish champion - sprint

1924

• Olympic Games - Team Pursuit (with Józef Lange , Jan Łazarski and Tomasz Stankiewicz )

Publications (selection)

• Przepisy wyścigowe i ogólne. Warsaw 1929.
• Analiza toksykologiczna. Warsaw 1946.
• O wykrywaniu szkła w strawie i wnętrznościach. Warsaw 1938.
• Kolarstwo wyczynowe. Warsaw 1949.
• Kolarstvo. Warsaw 1951.
• Analiza toksykologiczna: do użytku stacji sanitarno-epidemiologicznych, farmaceutów, chemików, lekarzy i studentów. Warsaw 1959.
• Kolarstwo dla wszystkich. Warsaw 1956.

Web links

• Franciszek Szymczyk in the Radsportseiten.net database
• Franciszek Szymczyk in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Czy wiesz że medalista letnich igrzysk olimpijskich był wieloletnim pracownikiem PZH? - 100 Lat NIZP-PZH. In: 100lat.pzh.gov.pl. Retrieved October 15, 2018 (Polish). 
2. ↑ ^{a b} Tomasz Stankiewicz - pierwszy polski olimpijczyk. In: instytutpileckiego.pl. Retrieved October 16, 2018 (Polish). 
3. ↑ Paweł Tomczyk: 120 lat temu urodził się Józef Lange, kolarz, pierwszy polski medalista olimpijski. In: dzieje.pl. Retrieved October 17, 2018 (Polish). 
4. ^ The Ninth Olympiad Amsterdam 1928 - Official report, p. 508.