Zdzisław Krzyszkowiak

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Zdzisław Ludwik Krzyszkowiak [ ˈzd͡ʑiswaf ˈludvik ˈkʂɨʂkɔvjak ] (born August 3, 1929 in Wielichowo ; † March 23, 2003 in Warsaw ) was a Polish athlete . His greatest success was winning the 3,000-meter obstacle course at the 1960 Olympic Games.

biography

Krzyszkowiak first made international attention when he missed the bronze medal at the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne by 7.4 seconds and finished fourth. At the European Championships in Stockholm in 1958 , he established himself as one of the best European long-distance runners and became European champion over 5000 and 10,000 meters . In the same year he was named Europe's Sportsman of the Year by the Polish press agency Polska Agencja Prasowa (PAP) .

In the spring of 1960, Krzyszkowiak ran a new world record in the 3,000-meter obstacle course and achieved a time of 8: 31.4 minutes. Two months later, at the Olympic Games in Rome , he finished seventh over 10,000 meters. In the 3000 meter obstacle course he was able to live up to his role as a favorite and won the gold medal.

After this success, Krzyszkowiak decided to concentrate only on the obstacle course. Although he ran another world record in 1961, he had to retire from elite sport in 1963 due to injuries. Krzyszkowiak, who had won a total of 13 Polish championship titles, later worked as a coach for many years and died at the age of 73. The Zdzisław Krzyszkowiak Stadium in Bydgoszcz was named after him.

Web links

• Zdzisław Krzyszkowiak in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )