Let’s turn back the clock and go back to Moscow, 1980. A little bit of background first: this story is about Poland. And Poland was never a part of the Soviet Union, per se, but was well within the area of Soviet influence and control. At the beginning of the…
There were three favorites in 1976 – Americans Dave Roberts and Earl Bell, and Poland’s Władysław Kozakiewicz. But Kozakiewicz struggled, could only clear 5.25 (17-2¾), and finished 11th. Six vaulters remained in the competition after 5.45 (17-10½) – Roberts, Bell, Poland’s Tadeusz Ślusarski and Wojciech Buciarski, Finland’s Antti Kalliomäki, and France’s Patrick Abada. At 5.50 (18-0½), Abada and Bell…
Wladyslaw Kozakiewicz had a long and distinguished pole-vaulting career, spanning nearly twenty years and including two world records and an Olympic gold medal. Kozakiewicz’s first major international competition was the 1974 European Championships in Rome, where he won the silver medal with a clearance of 5.35m, the same height as…
