The Pole broke the world record and won gold. Hurt by the Russians and Germans
Exactly 61 years ago, on October 21, 1964, during the Olympic Games in Tokyo, the Polish women’s relay team won gold. However, one of the heroines was harmed.
There is no doubt that the 1964 Olympic competition in Tokyo was exceptionally successful for the Polish team. Poland could boast of seven gold, six silver and ten bronze medals. What’s more, not only valuable podium places, but also a world record – appeared on the Polish side.
Golden relay and world record for Polish women! The later drama of Ewa Kłobukowska
Waldemar Baszanowski won the first gold at the 1964 Olympic Games for Poland in weightlifting. The next two Olympic golds were also won by men, Egon Franke in fencing and Józef Szmidt in athletics, specifically the triple jump.
It is difficult to compare gold with gold, but certainly in terms of publicity, the Polish women’s 4×100 meters relay team achieved something unique in Tokyo. Exactly 61 years ago, Polish women ran in the final with a time of 43.6 seconds – thus breaking the world record. The Polish band consisted of: Teresa Ciepły, Halina Górecka, Irena Kirszenstein (later known as Szewińska) and Ewa Kłobukowska.
The last one mentioned turned out to be a tragic figure, considering the treatment of the Polish woman by the highest international sports authorities. Why? Kłobukowska was a phenomenal athlete. The Pole was able to run not only in a relay, but also individually, which was confirmed by, among others, during the same games, winning the bronze medal individually in the 100-meter race.
But that’s not all, because the athlete from Warsaw was able to break the world record in the 100 m, more specifically in Prague (1965), with a time of 11.1 s. Unfortunately, in 1967 she suddenly disappeared from the track, which was initially officially explained by an injury. Over time, it turned out that the denunciations of the Federal Republic of Germany and the USSR to the International Association of Athletics Federations at Kłobukowska regarding the distinction of sexes based on chromosome configuration had an effect. Only years later was it officially admitted that the Pole had simply been wronged by the German and Russian sides.
Kłobukowska “failed” especially the Russians (then the Soviets), beating everyone during the European Championships in Budapest (1966). Only 25 years after the disastrous accusation and, consequently, the final end of Kłobukowska’s career, the International Olympic Committee admitted its mistake.
– I was at the conference during the Barcelona Olympics where this announcement was made. However, no one apologized to Ewa Kłobukowska, the biggest victim of the IOC medical commission’s error, even though her entire life was ruined (she even wanted to commit suicide). What’s worse, Ewa has not been rehabilitated by the IOC to this day. I consider this the greatest violation of the Fair Play rule in the history of the Olympic movement, said Maciej Petruczenko, a legendary and much-lamented sports journalist, quoted on the website of the Polish History Museum.
The world record held by Polish women from the 1964 Olympics was erased from the world lists. But people still remember what a fantastic athletics team Poland had back then. Even taking into account that over 60 years have passed since then.
