Владіслав Комар: Польський атлет, актор та олімпійський чемпіон

Polish athletics competitor

Władysław Stefan Komar (11 April 1940 – 17 August 1998) was a Polish shot putter, actor and cabaretist. Competing in three Summer Olympics between 1964 and 1972, he won the gold medal at the Munich Games in 1972 with a throw of 21.18 metres. After the entrance of the Red Army in 1945 young Wladysław escaped with his mother and older sister to Warsaw as the mother feared they might get sent to Syberia by the Soviets like many former land owners. They first travelled through Białystok to Warsaw before his being placed in an orphanage near Poznań, in Western Poland. In 1953, after graduating from primary school by the orphanage, his mother brought him to live with her in Warsaw.

The first sport that Komar took up was amateur boxing, which he started practising in 1955 and competed in the heavyweight category. He went as far as representing his country at the under 20 level. His last fight was in a junior team match against Italy in 1959 when he was knocked out by Giorgio Masteghin in the first round. After that he got convinced to switch to athletics although initially he also practised rugby and handball.

At the beginning of his athletics career he also competed in the high jump and decathlon. He even set a Polish record in the latter in 1963. Komar's major championships debut came at the 1962 European Championships in Belgrade where he finished fourth behind compatriot Alfred Sosgórnik. In February next year he threw 18.60 metres, his first national record. In June 1964, he improved the national record to 19.50 metres, just 6 centimetres shy of the European record. This result made him one of the favourites for the October Olympic Games held in Tokyo, however, he only managed ninth place with 18.20 metres. In 1966 he set the Polish indoor record of 19.20 metres and later that year the outdoor record of 19.61. Afterwards he competed at his second European Championships in Budapest where he managed the bronze. At his third Olympic Games, in Munich, he won the shot put competition throwing 21.18 metres, just one centimetre further than the American George Woods and four ahead of East Germans, Briesenick and Gies.

Komar later became an actor, appearing in more than ten films, including Kazimierz Wielki (1976), Soviet Boris Godunov (1986), Roman Polanski's Pirates (1986), as well as Magnat (1987) and Kiler (1997). He took part in the professional wrestling show, organised by a former Polish Olympic wrestler, Andrzej Supron, which toured the Soviet Union in 1989 and 1990.

He died on 17 August 1998 in a car crash coming back from an athletics meeting in Międzyzdroje together with another Olympic gold medallist, pole vaulter Tadeusz Ślusarski. The car they hit was driven by another athlete, former sprinter, Jarosław Marzec, who died several days later. A memorial athletics meeting in their name is held every year in Międzyzdroje.

Władysław Komar was married twice. His first wife, Małgorzata Spychalska (b. 1942), was a daughter of Marian Spychalski, a prominent Polish communist politician. They divorced in 1973. With his second wife Maria (1950–2008), a former volleyball player, he had one son Mikołaj (b. 1977) who went on to become a photographer.

Representing 1962European ChampionshipsBelgrade, Serbia4th18.00 m1964Olympic GamesTokyo, Japan9th18.20 m1966European ChampionshipsBudapest, Hungary3rd18.68 m1967European Indoor GamesPrague, Czechoslovakia3rd18.85 m1968European Indoor GamesMadrid, Spain2nd18.40 mOlympic GamesMexico City, Mexico6th19.28 m1971European Indoor ChampionshipsSofia, Bulgaria4th19.43 mEuropean ChampionshipsHelsinki, Finland3rd20.04 m1972European Indoor ChampionshipsGrenoble, France2nd20.32 mOlympic GamesMunich, Germany1st21.18 m1974European ChampionshipsRome, Italy6th19.82 m1977European Indoor ChampionshipsSan Sebastián, Spain3rd20.17 m1978European Indoor ChampionshipsMilan, Italy2nd20.16 m