Irena Szewińska, née Kirszenstein died on 29th June 2018, aged 72. She was the only athlete in history,
male or female, to have held the world record in the 100m, the 200m and the 400m.
Her death was
announced by her husband Janusz Szewiński - a some times sports photographer.
She died of cancer
in Warsaw at the Militaryn Institute of Medicine on Szaserów Street.
At the 2018 Athletics World Cup
in London in August 2018m the Polish team all wore a small black ribbon.
Irena Szewinska established and maintained an outstanding all round record at the highest level for over two decades. She first came to international notice as an 18 year-old at the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games competing under her maiden name of Kirszenstein. There she came second in the Long Jump with 6.60m, second in the 200m in a time of 23.1sec behind Edith McGuire (USA), and with three teammates, including 100m bronze medallist Ewa Klobukowska, won the 4 x 100m relay in a World Record time of 43.6sec. On 9 July the following year she tied the 100m World Record of 11.1sec at a meet in Prague. One month later, on 8 August in a Poland v USA match at Warsaw she ran the 200m in 22.7sec, breaking the World Record and defeating her Olympic conqueror McGuire in the process.
In 1966 she made a spectacular European Championships debut at Budapest winning three gold medals and one silver. She narrowly lost the 100m to Klobukowska, with both of them returning the same time of 11.5sec. She then won gold medals in the 200m in 23.1sec, relegating Klobukowska to second place; in the Long Jump with a distance of 6.55m; and as a member of the Polish 4 x 100m relay team in a time of 44.4sec. Irena married her coach Janusz Szewinska on 25 December 1967. At the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico she again equalled the 100m World Record of 11.1sec in her second round heat. She repeated this time in the final but only finished third behind Wyomia Tyus (USA) who set a new mark of 11.0sec. Szewinska surprisingly failed to qualify in the Long Jump, but she easily won the 200m smashing her own World Record with a time of 22.58sec. (Ron Casey).
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She was the World's first women to break 50 second for the 400 metres.
Irena Szewinska slowly regained her old form following the birth of
her son, Andrzej in 1970. At her second European Championships at
Helsinki in 1971, Szewinska competed in a range of events as she had in
the past, but the performances were below her earlier high standard.
Nevertheless she finished a creditable 6th in the 100m, 5th in the Long
Jump, and third in the 200m. She had similar results at the 1972 Olympic
Games in Munich where she was eliminated (6th) in her semi-final of the
100m and ran third behind Renate Stecher (East Germany) in the 200m.
However, a significant change occurred during 1973 when she turned her
attention to the 400m. At her first attempt at this distance on 23
September 1973 in Warsaw she ran 52.0sec, only 1.0 sec slower than the
World Record. On 13 June 1974 at Potsdam, she not only defeated Stecher
over 200m but also set a new World Record of 22.21sec.
Nine days later
at Warsaw, in only her second 400m race, she took a huge 1.1sec off the
World Record and her time of 49.9sec shattered both the 51 second and 50
second barriers in one stroke. Surprisingly she did not compete in the
400m at that year's European Championships at Rome, but this is probably
understandable when her other achievements at the Championships are
considered.
She won the 100m in 11.13sec and the 200m in 22.51sec, in both
instances inflicting decisive victories over reigning Olympic champion
Stecher. She won a bronze medal in the 4 x 100m relay and anchored the 4
x 400m relay team to a 4th place finish. Although she did not win a
medal, in this latter event, her performance was outstanding, running a
48.5sec leg and gaining 20m on the leaders. (Ron Casey)
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The picture of Irena Szewinska was taken on Wednesday, July 28th. 1976 at the Montreal
Olympic Games.
Photo George Herringshaw. ©
1976 Olympic gold medal at 400 metres.
In early 1976, Irena Szewinska lost her 400m World Record when
Christina Brehmer of E. Germany recorded a time of 49.77sec. However,
Irena quickly reclaimed the record, setting a new mark of 49.75sec on 22
June. Thus, the clash between these two athletes at the Montreal
Olympic Games held later that year was eagerly anticipated. As a contest
it turned out to be a bit of an anti-climax as Szewinska totally
dominated her younger opponent. Although Brehmer led at the 200m mark,
Szewinska just powered away to win easily reducing her own World Record
by a huge 0.46sec with a time of 49.29sec and leaving Brehmer a distant
second. (50.51sec).
A new challenge to Szewinska's supremacy in the 400m emerged in 1977 in
the form of 20 year-old Marita Koch (East Germany). Koch reduced her
personal best a number of times in the early part of the 1977 season to
49.53sec, and narrowly defeated Szewinska in a 200m event at Nice. Their
first meeting over 400m was therefore eagerly awaited, and this
occurred on 4 September 1977 at the inaugural World Cup in Dusseldorf.
Koch sped away at the start passing 200m in 23.1sec and at 300m had a
lead of 3 metres over Szewinska. Then Szewinska started to slowly close
the gap, eventually catching and passing her younger opponent to win in
49.52sec to Koch's 49.76sec. See George Herringshaw's photograph of that moment below.
This was Szewinska’s last major international victory, although not her
last competition. In 1978, at Prague, in her fourth European
Championships, she came third in the 400m behind Koch, and she was a
member of the Polish 4 x 400m relay team which also won a bronze medal.
At her fifth Olympic Games at Moscow in 1980 she was eliminated in her
400m semi-final. (Ron Casey)
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