IWF120y/71 – 1964: Waldemar Baszanowski, a reference in Polish weightlifting

Before arriving in Tokyo, for his second Olympic participation in 1964, Waldemar Baszanowski was already a distinguished athlete in Poland. After winning the 1961 world title in Vienna (AUT) and getting two additional silver medals in 1962 (Budapest, HUN) and 1963 (Stockholm, SWE), he was chosen as his nation’s flagbearer in the Opening Ceremony of the Games in the Japanese capital. Some days later, he would definitively enter into the weightlifting Pantheon, clinching his first Olympic victory in the 67.5kg category (132.5-135-165-432.5). Known for his impeccable style and for being one of the last lifters to use the “split clean”, the Polish ace revalidated his title four years later in Mexico City, this time lifting a total of 437.5. In 1972, he competed in his fourth Games (he had been fifth in 1960, in Rome), but couldn’t reach the podium in Munich, finishing fourth. At the World Championships, and besides the above-mentioned medals, he got two additional titles (1965 and 1969) and was second in 1966, 1970, and 1971. He is still today the only Polish lifter with two Olympic titles and the most prolific (10 medals) athlete in the history of the IWF World Championships! Throughout his amazing career, he also set 24 World Records. Poland has a solid tradition in weightlifting, with a total of 34 medals at the Games (six gold, six silver, and 22 bronze)! Off the platform, Baszanowski’s life was marked by a tragic car accident (in which he was the driver) in 1969, where his wife tragically died, but their six-year-old son survived. Upon his retirement, he became a successful coach and administrator, being elected in 1999 as President of the European Weightlifting Federation. In 2007, tragedy struck again: after falling from a tree in his garden, Baszanowski was paralysed from the neck down. In April 2011, he passed away in Warsaw, at the age of 75.