Zdzisław Kawecki

The name of Zdzisław Kawecki on the plaque for the murdered Polish participants in the Olympic Games in the Warsaw Praga Cathedral

Zdzisław Szczęsny Kawecki-Gozdawa (born May 21, 1902 in Warsaw , † 1940 in Katyn ) was a Polish officer and eventing rider .

Zdzisław Kawecki was a captain in the Polish army . In 1936 he started eventing at the Olympic Games in Berlin. During the cross-country ride , he fell and broke several ribs, so that he had to complete the show jumping with a bandaged upper body. In the individual evaluation, Kawecki took 18th place on his horse Bambino in the three-day competition in which seven different disciplines had to be mastered. In the team championship he won the silver medal behind the German team together with Henryk Leliwa-Roycewicz and Seweryn Kulesza . The cross-country ride in particular was extremely difficult, and only 14 of 46 riders made it to the finish. Three of the best horses then had to be euthanized.

On December 2, 1936, the National Olympic Committee of Czechoslovakia , whose riders had finished fourth, protested at the 24th Congress of the International Federation of Equestrian Sports (FEI) against the award of the silver medal to the Polish team. Kawecki left out a turning point. The protest was rejected. In contrast, the Polish sports historian Mariusz Heron takes the view that the Polish team was deliberately discriminated against by the German organizers in order not to endanger the host's gold medal.

Kawecki was one of around 4,400 Polish officers and intellectuals who were killed in the " Katyn Massacre " by members of the Soviet People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD) between April 3 and May 11, 1940 in a forest near the village of Katyn , 20 kilometers to the west of Smolensk , were murdered. Kawecki was one of six Polish Olympians who died there. In 2007 he was posthumously promoted to major .

Web links

Commons : Zdzisław Kawecki - collection of images, videos and audio files

Zdzisław Kawecki in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
Berlin 1936. czyli: o słynnym "polskim" olimpijskim konkursie WKKW (detailed report on the eventing competition at the 1936 Olympic Games). stajniatrot.pl, August 31, 2012, accessed March 16, 2014 (Polish).

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b Volker Kluge : Summer Olympic Games. The Chronicle I. Athens 1896 - Berlin 1936. Sportverlag Berlin, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-328-00715-6 , p. 901.
^ Mariusz Heron: Pamięci "Srebrnej Drużyny". Polscy kawalerzyści na berlińskich igrzyskach w 1936 roku. Retrieved March 16, 2014 (Polish).
↑ Roman Kołtoń: To the Prezydent i Prezes PKOl chcieli się pokłonić. Sport Interia PL, April 16, 2010, accessed March 17, 2014 (Polish).

personal data
SURNAME	Kawecki, Zdzisław
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Kawecki-Gozdawa, Zdzisław Szczęsny (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Polish officer and eventing rider
DATE OF BIRTH	May 21, 1902
PLACE OF BIRTH	Warsaw
DATE OF DEATH	1940
Place of death	Katyn

[kluge-1] Volker Kluge : Summer Olympic Games. The Chronicle I. Athens 1896 - Berlin 1936. Sportverlag Berlin, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-328-00715-6 , p. 901.

[2] Mariusz Heron: Pamięci "Srebrnej Drużyny". Polscy kawalerzyści na berlińskich igrzyskach w 1936 roku. Retrieved March 16, 2014 (Polish).

[3] Roman Kołtoń: To the Prezydent i Prezes PKOl chcieli się pokłonić. Sport Interia PL, April 16, 2010, accessed March 17, 2014 (Polish).