Józef Szmidt

Józef Szmidt
Józef Szmidt
nation	Poland
birthday	March 28, 1935
place of birth	Miechowitz ,  German Empire
size	184 cm
Weight	77 kg
job	mechanic
Career
discipline	Triple jump , long jump , sprint
Best performance	17.03 m (triple jump) 7.48 m (long jump) 10.4 s ( 100 m )
society	Górnik Zabrze , Śląsk Wrocław
status	resigned
End of career	1971
Medal table
Olympic games 2 × 0 × 0 × European championships 2 × 0 × 0 ×
Olympic games gold Rome 1960 Triple jump gold Tokyo 1964 Triple jump European championships gold Stockholm 1958 Triple jump gold Belgrade 1962 Triple jump

Józef Szmidt (born March 28, 1935 as Josef Schmidt in Miechowitz near Beuthen OS ) is a former Polish athlete and two-time Olympic champion of German descent who was the world's best three jumper in the early 1960s . His nickname was "Silesian kangaroo ".

Life

youth

Józef Szmidt was born in 1935 as a citizen of the German Empire into a German family, his name originally spelled Josef Schmidt . In the spring of 1945 in Silesia , a Polish administration was established, the family as hundreds of thousands remained on the other inhabitants of the Upper Silesian industrial region of expulsion recessed and forced resettlement because the professionals were needed in the factories and local businesses.

After the "Decree of November 10, 1945 on the change and definition of first and last names", the names were Polonized. His official name was now "Józef Szmidt", his older brother Eberhard became Edward, his sister Ingrid had to take the first name Irena. According to his own statements, like his parents, Szmidt did not speak a word of Polish until 1945.

People's Republic of Poland

Szmidt trained as a mechanic , but was soon able to devote himself entirely to sports training.

After the end of his active career, he told a journalist that he had a distant relationship with politics and would not participate in the next elections to the Sejm . Although this statement was not printed, it reached functionaries of the Labor Party and was understood by them as a criticism of the regime. Szmidt lost his privileges as a successful athlete, his name was no longer mentioned in the media.

In view of this development, he submitted an application to leave the Federal Republic of Germany ; according to German law, as a former citizen of the Reich, he had never lost his German citizenship . But these requests were rejected. Although Szmidt, according to his own admission, was under surveillance by the authorities, in 1975 he managed to be included in the limited number of fans that the Polish national soccer team was allowed to attend to a qualifying match for the 1976 European soccer championship in Amsterdam . In doing so, he left the tour group and drove to the Federal Republic. His wife, who remained in Poland, had to report to the local militia station every day . She was threatened that they would lose custody of the two children and that they would be given up for forced adoption . She succeeded in smuggling the children out of the country and in the end, in return for a bribe, was able to obtain the exit papers herself.

Federal Republic of Germany

The family settled in Lüdenscheid . Szmidt got a job as a physiotherapist in a clinic there , thanks to the mediation of the former Polish middle-distance champion Stefan Lewandowski , who was also of German descent and who worked there as a surgeon . His wife was hired as a surgical nurse.

Republic of Poland

In 1994 they both returned to Poland. They bought a large piece of land not far from Drawsko Pomorskie in West Pomerania , where from then on they devoted themselves to breeding goats and cultivating fruit trees . Since then, Szmidt has lived completely withdrawn, and he has consistently refused invitations to honors and gala events for former sports champions.

Sports career

Poland

Szmidt came through his older brother Edward Szmidt to athletics, who stood in the 1956 Polish 4 x 100 meter relay in the Olympic final. In 1958, Józef Szmidt was the first Polish triple jumper to exceed the 16-meter mark. At the Polish championship in Olsztyn on August 5, 1960, he jumped a new world record with 17.03 meters, making him the first triple jumper to exceed the 17-meter mark. He won a total of ten Polish championship titles in the discipline (1959, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1969, 1970, 1971).

In 1961 he was also national champion in the long jump . He also started in sprint competitions and won three runner-up titles: 100 meters (1958), 200 meters (1953 and 1958). In an international match, he even beat the Soviet champion Edvīns Ozoliņš .

On the anniversary of his triple jump world record in 2010, the city of Olsztyn granted him honorary citizenship .

International championships

Between 1958 and 1964 he won all international championships. At the European Championships in Stockholm in 1958 , he won the title with 16.43 meters ahead of the Soviet world record holder Oleg Ryachowski .

On August 5, 1960, he was the first jumper to surpass the 17-meter mark, which is still valuable today, with 17.03 m. A month later at the Olympic Games in Rome in 1960 he won the gold medal with the Olympic record of 16.81 meters in front of the two Soviet athletes Vladimir Goryayev and Witold Kreyer. He also won gold at the European Championships in Belgrade in 1962 in front of two Soviet Russians as well as at the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 1964. In his own estimation, his repeated victories over Russian rivals have contributed to his popularity among his compatriots. In the years of his two Olympic victories he was voted “ Sportsman of the Year ” in Poland .

He competed again at the 1968 Olympic Games . But the 16.89 meters achieved in the mountain air of Mexico City was only enough for seventh place. He said goodbye to international sport at the age of 36 at the European Championships in Helsinki in 1971 , where he did not get past 11th place.

Web links

• Polish newsreel WFDiF : 1960 world record

Individual evidence

1. ↑ olsztyn24.com August 6, 2010.
2. ^ Hans-Werner Rautenberg, Germans and Germans of Origin in Poland , in: From Politics and Contemporary History , December 9, 1988.
3. ↑ Decree z dnia 10 listopada o zmianie i ustaleniu imion i nazwisk , Dz.URP, no.56, poz.310, 1945; see: Matthias Kneip: The German language in Upper Silesia . Dortmund 1999, pp. 169-171.
4. ↑ Rzeczpospolita December 24, 2009.
5. ↑ Gazeta Wyborcza August 21, 2008.
6. ↑ Gazeta Wyborcza August 21, 2008.
7. ↑ Gazeta Wyborcza August 21, 2008.
8. ↑ eurosport.onet.pl July 16, 2013.
9. ↑ Gazeta Wyborcza August 21, 2008.
10. ↑ olsztyn24.com August 6, 2010, p. also https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y70yD985Ig8
11. ↑ Rzeczpospolita December 24, 2009.