Janusz Sidło

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Janusz Sidlo (1974)

Janusz Jan Sidło , b. Reinhold Sidło (born June 19, 1933 in Szopienice ; † August 2, 1993 in Warsaw ) was a Polish athlete who was one of the world's top javelin throwers in the 1950s and 1960s . He set a world record and took part in five Olympic Games and five European championships.

The following table with Janusz Sidło's best performances for the year shows his high level of consistency:

year 1951 1952 1953 1954 1956 1958 1959 1960 1962 1964 1966 1968 1969
Width (m) 67.88 68.42 80.15 79.03 83.66 81.97 85.56 81.57 78.82 85.09 84.86 84.40 83.80

Career

His interest in javelin throwing was aroused when the Soviet pentathlete Alexandra Tschudina threw the javelin 44 m in 1948 . 15-year-old Janusz claimed that he could go beyond this distance with a man's spear. No sooner said than done: the spear landed at 46 meters.

His first international appearance at the Olympic Games in Helsinki in 1952 already ended in qualification. With 62.16 m he clearly missed the required 64 meters. Annoyed at his failure, he threw the spear away - and reached a distance just below the 70-meter mark. In the following period there was an explosion in performance. In October 1953 an international match between Poland and GDR took place in Jena . Janusz Sidło, whose best performance was under 70 meters, increased in the second attempt to 77.52 m and wanted to end the competition believing that he had exhausted his possibilities that day. However, a cameraman who wanted to film him asked for another shot. Sidło did him a favor and became the second thrower in the world to surpass the 80-meter mark. At 80.41 m, it was only 26 centimeters below the existing world record. At the European Championships in Bern the following year, he lived up to his role as a favorite and won the gold medal.

In the 1956 Olympic year, everything pointed to winning another gold medal after Janusz Sidło had set a world record with 83.66 m in Milan. However, he was only allowed to enjoy this performance for just under five months. In the final Olympic battle, of all places, Egil Danielsen improved him with a lucky throw - the second best attempt by the unknown Norwegian was measured with 72.60 m - to 85.71 m, while Sidło “only” remained the silver medal with an excellent 79.98 m. Two years later, however, he managed to take revenge: The European champion in Stockholm was Janusz Sidło.

At the Olympic Games in Rome in 1960 , he threw 85.14 m in qualification and remained just below the world record. But then he was nearly struck in the face by a competitor's spear. Sidło was so shocked that in the further course of the competition he fell short of his possibilities and only finished eighth.

At the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 1964 and in Mexico City in 1968 , he got throws over 80 meters, which were not enough for a medal.

He won his last medal surprisingly at the European Athletics Championships in Athens in 1969 . There he managed a throw of 82.90 m, which put the 36-year-old in 3rd place.

Janusz Sidło said goodbye to active competitive sport in 1973 with a throw of 74.48 m. In the course of his long career he achieved distances of over 80 meters in 150 competitions. He set seven Polish records and won fourteen Polish championships:

year 1960 1961 1963 1966 1969
Width (m) 78.73 78.16 80.30 83.12 81.86

(Championships before 1960 not used)

Janusz Sidło was a Polish athlete in 1954 and 1955. After finishing his active career, he became a coach. In later years he had heart problems; water was also found in the lungs. He was unable to recover from an operation.

International successes and placements

Olympic games
European Athletics Championships
  • 1954 in Bern : gold with 76.35 m ahead of Vladimir Kuznetsov (USSR) with 74.61 m and the Finn Soini Nikkinen with 73.38 m
  • 1958 in Stockholm : Gold with 80.18 m ahead of the Norwegian Egil Danielsen with 78.27 m and the Hungarian Gergely Kulcsár with 75.26 m
  • 1962 in Belgrade : Seventh with 75.01 m (victory distance Jānis Lūsis, USSR: 82.04 m)
  • 1966 in Budapest : Seventh with 78.86 m (victory distance Jānis Lūsis, USSR: 84.84 m)
  • 1969 in Athens : bronze with 82.90 m behind Jānis Lūsis with 91.52 m and the Finn Pauli Nevala with 89.58 m
Universiade
Student World Games
  • 1951 in Berlin: Gold with 66.38 m
  • 1954 in Budapest: gold with 75.24 m
  • 1955 in Warsaw: gold with 77.93 m
  • 1957 in Moscow: gold with 80.12 m
  • 1959 in Vienna: Gold with 76.53 m
  • 1962 in Helsinki: silver with 72.59 m behind Jānis Lūsis (USSR) (gold with 78.88 m)

Web links

Commons : Janusz Sidło  - collection of images, videos and audio files