imported>JJMC89 bot III: Moving :Category:Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) to :Category:Olympic gold medalists in athletics per Wikipedia:Categories for discussion/Speedy

2025-10-31T10:37:26Z

Moving Category:Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) to Category:Olympic gold medalists in athletics per Wikipedia:Categories for discussion/Speedy

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{{short description|Polish long-distance runner}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2018}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox sportsperson
| name = Janusz Kusociński
| image =Janusz Kusociński.jpg
| caption =
| nationality = Polish
| sport = [[Sport of Athletics|Athletics]]
| event = middle-distance
| club = Sarmaty Warszawa
| birth_date = 15 January 1907
| birth_place = Olterzewo, Warszawa, Mazowieckie, Poland
| death_date = 21 June 1940 (aged 33)
| death_place = Palmiry Warszawa, Mazowieckie, Poland
| height =167 cm
| weight =kg
| pb =
| medaltemplates=
{{MedalSport | Men's [[Sport of athletics|athletics]]}}
{{MedalCountry | {{POL}} }}
{{MedalCompetition|[[Olympic Games]]}}
{{MedalGold | [[1932 Summer Olympics|1932 Los Angeles]] | [[Athletics at the 1932 Summer Olympics – Men's 10,000 metres|10,000 meters]]}}
{{MedalCompetition|[[European Athletics Championships]]}}
{{MedalSilver | [[1934 European Athletics Championships|1934 Turin]]|[[1934 European Athletics Championships – Men's 5000 metres|5,000 meters]]}}
}}

'''Janusz Tadeusz Kusociński''' (15 January 1907 – 21 June 1940) was a Polish [[Sport of athletics|athlete]], winner in the 10,000 meters event at the [[1932 Summer Olympics]].

== Biography ==
Born in [[Warsaw]] into the family of a railroad worker, Janusz Kusociński, or ''Kusy'' as he was [[nickname]]d, played [[Association football|football]] for various Warsaw clubs as a schoolboy. He took up athletics in 1928 after joining the sport club "Sarmata". His coach there was the famous [[Estonia]]n, [[Decathlon|decathlete]] [[Aleksander Klumberg]].

In his first competition at the Polish National Championships, Kusociński surprisingly won the 5000 m and cross country titles. He missed the next season, because he was called to duty by the Polish army, but he came back stronger than ever. He won the Polish Championship titles in the 1500 m and the 5000 m, in cross country in 1930 and 1931, and in the 800 m in 1932.

[[Image:Palmiry kusocinski.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Tomb of Janusz Kusociński in Palmiry near Warsaw]]

In 1932 Kusociński was working as a [[gardener]] in a park in Warsaw.<ref name=Wallechinsky>[[David Wallechinsky|Wallechinsky, David]] (2004). ''The Complete Book of the Summer Olympics'', [[Toronto]]: Sport Classic Books. {{ISBN|1-894963-34-2}}</ref> Just about a month before the [[Los Angeles, California|Los Angeles]] Olympics, Kusociński ran a new [[world record]] in the 3000 m (8:18.8) and later that year, he set a new unofficial world record in running 4 miles in a time of 19:02.6. At the Olympics, Kusociński won a close battle against the Finns [[Volmari Iso-Hollo]] and [[Lasse Virtanen]] in the 10 000 m, with a world season's best time of 30:11.4.

Kusociński won the British [[AAA Championships]] title in the 3 miles event at the [[1934 AAA Championships]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000640/19340714/336/0011 |title=Finals of White City events |work=Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette |date=14 July 1934 |via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |access-date=11 January 2025 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003359/19340715/325/0019 |title=British athletes lose titles |work=Weekly Dispatch (London) |date=15 July 1934 |via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |access-date=11 January 2025 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nuts.org.uk/Champs/AAA/index.htm |title=AAA, WAAA and National Championships Medallists |website=National Union of Track Statisticians |access-date=11 January 2025 }}</ref>

After finishing second in the first European Championships at [[Turin]] in the 5000 m in 1934, Kusociński decided to retire from athletics, but made a comeback in 1939 by winning the 10 000 m at the Polish National Championships.

Kusociński volunteered for the Polish army after Poland was attacked by the [[Germany|Germans]] and was wounded twice. During the German occupation he worked as a waiter, but was secretly a member of the [[Polish resistance movement in World War II|Polish resistance]].<ref name=Wallechinsky/><ref>{{cite book|last=Karski|first=Jan|title=The Story of a Secret State|year=1944|publisher=Houghton Mifflin|isbn=1931541396}}</ref> Janusz Kusociński was arrested by the [[Gestapo]] on 26 March 1940 during the [[German AB-Aktion operation in Poland|AB Action]] and imprisoned in [[Mokotów Prison]]. He was executed three months later in [[Palmiry]], near Warsaw.<ref name="WWII">{{cite web |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/friv/lists.cgi?id=65 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417055433/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/friv/lists.cgi?id=65 |url-status=dead |archive-date=17 April 2020 |title=Olympians Who Were Killed or Missing in Action or Died as a Result of War |access-date=24 July 2018 |work=Sports Reference}}</ref>
{{Further|Palmiry massacre}}
An annual athletics competition, the [[Kusociński Memorial]], is held in Poland in his honour. It was in its 55th edition in 2009.<ref>Grinberg, Daniel (8 June 2009). [http://www.iaaf.org/WAF09/news/kind=100/newsid=50982.html Throwers dominate 55th Kusocinski Memorial]. [[IAAF]]. Retrieved on 2009-06-09.</ref> On 12 August 2009, he was posthumously awarded the Commander's Cross with Star of the [[Order of Polonia Restituta]], "for outstanding contribution to the independence of the Polish Republic, for sporting achievements in the field of athletics".

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category}}
* {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080819231548/http://www.pkol.pl/pl/subpages/displayfid/294_1861.html |date=19 August 2008 |title=Janusz Tadeusz Kusociński at the Polish Olympic Committee}} {{in lang|pl}}
* {{Olympics.com profile|janusz-kusocinski|org_archive=20210411001613}}
* {{Olympedia}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-ach|rec}}
{{succession box|before={{flagicon|FIN}} [[Paavo Nurmi]]|title=[[Men's 3000 metres world record progression|Men's 3,000 m World Record Holder]]|years=19 June 1932 – 24 July 1934|after={{flagicon|DEN}} [[Henry Nielsen (athlete)|Henry Nielsen]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Footer Olympic Champions 10000 m Men}}
{{Awards of Plebiscite of Przegląd Sportowy}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kusocinski, Janusz}}
[[Category:1907 births]]
[[Category:1940 deaths]]
[[Category:Athletes from Warsaw]]
[[Category:Polish men long-distance runners]]
[[Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1932 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Olympic athletes for Poland]]
[[Category:World record setters in the sport of athletics]]
[[Category:Polish military personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:Commanders with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta]]
[[Category:Polish people executed by Nazi Germany]]
[[Category:European Athletics Championships medalists]]
[[Category:Executed people from Masovian Voivodeship]]
[[Category:Medalists at the 1932 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Olympic gold medalists for Poland]]
[[Category:Olympic gold medalists in athletics]]
[[Category:Polish resistance members of World War II]]
[[Category:Resistance members killed by Nazi Germany]]
[[Category:Polish civilians killed in World War II]]
[[Category:20th-century Polish sportsmen]]

Janusz Kusociński - Revision history

imported>JJMC89 bot III: Moving :Category:Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) to :Category:Olympic gold medalists in athletics per Wikipedia:Categories for discussion/Speedy