1980 Olympics: Polish athlete gives Soviet power a finger

The Games take place in Moscow, during the Cold War. The Pole’s run-up is impeccable, he beats his Russian rival and defies Soviet power with a hand gesture. Without realizing it, Władysław Kozakiewicz has just participated in the emancipation of Poland from the Soviet Union.

As the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games approaches, let’s take a look back at 1980. The Games are taking place in Moscow, in the midst of the Cold War. In the pole vault competition, there is no surprise, it is one of the favorites who wins: Poland’s Władysław Kozakiewicz. However, the images of this 5.78 meter jump will be broadcast on televisions around the world, except those in the Soviet bloc countries.

It is the heart of the Moscow summer, on the track of the monumental central Lenin Stadium. Władysław Kozakiewicz’s run-up is impeccable. His technique is perfectly mastered, as is the middle finger that the Pole gives the Moscow public, within a second of landing on the mat. Władysław Kozakiewicz has just broken the world record and won his duel with Russian pole vaulter Kostantin Volkov. He has also just silenced the shrill whistles that accompanied each of his jumps, throughout the competition.

It was impossible for Moscow to stand idly by in the face of such an affront. Very quickly, the USSR ambassador to Poland officially requested from the International Olympic Committee that Władysław Kozakiewicz’s gold medal be withdrawn immediately for “insult to the Soviet people“The Polish government pretends not to understand and claims that this gesture was the consequence of a “muscle spasm“. Moscow will not win its case.

Without realizing it, Władysław Kozakiewicz had just participated in the emancipation of Poland from the Soviet Union. What historians call “the first breach” in the Warsaw Pact. Because, at the same time, in Poland, Lech Walesa, an electrician at the Lenin shipyards, managed to create Solidarnosc, the first free trade union in the communist world. The pole vaulter’s raised middle finger then became a symbol of emancipation. Władysław Kozakiewicz became “Koza“, a heroic figure who will never stop paying the consequences of his actions. Abusive disqualifications, withdrawal of passport, the athlete will end up taking German nationality. The Polish authorities also attack his father, who was dispossessed and banned from accessing his bank accounts. Kozakiewicz father and son will end up settling in West Germany and will not return to Poland until after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.