Jānis Dimza

When he was at school Jānis Dimza played football before turning to athletics and becoming one of the best all-round track and field athletes in Latvia. At the end of the 1920s Dimza had a rapid rise to the top, becoming the national champion in six events in 1928. His impressive record saw him win 36 Latvian titles across 13 different disciplines including the shot put (1928–31, 1933, 1935–36), decathlon (1928–31), shot put with both hands (1928–31), triple jump (1928-31), high jump (1928–29, 1935), standing high jump (1929–31), pentathlon (1928–29, 1931), and discus (1935–36). During this time he also set 26 Latvian records across multiple events.

Dimza was selected to compete in the decathlon at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics and was considered by many to be one of the favourites to win a medal. After seven events he was in fourth place heading into the pole vault. He cleared 3.50 metres to move up to second overall, but suffered an injury on landing and was forced to withdraw from the rest of the competition. Two years later he finished fourth in decathlon at the 1934 European Championships in Torino. He returned to the Olympics for the 1936 Games in Berlin but again did not finish in the decathlon after withdrawing following four disciplines.

Away from athletics Dimza worked as the assistant chief of police at the Rīga railway junction. During the Soviet occupation of Latvia in 1940 he was arrested and placed in a local jail. In June 1941 he was deported from Rīga to a Soviet prison camp where he was later executed by a firing squad in March 1942.

Personal Best: Dec – 6391 (1931).