Jerzy Pławczyk

Poland’s Jerzy Pławczyk was an all-round track and field athlete who won multiple titles prior to the start of World War II. Pławczyk was the national champion in the high jump (1932, 1934–35), decathlon (1934, 1936), and as part of the 4 x 100 metres relay quartet (1934). He had similar success at the Polish indoor championships, winning titles in the high jump (1933–34, 1936), pole vault (1933), and the long jump (1933, 1936). He tied for seventh with Misao Ono in the high jump at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics, with both athletes having a best clearance of 1.90 metres. Four years later Pławczyk competed in the high jump and decathlon at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, finishing 22nd and ninth, respectively.

In between his two appearances at the Olympics Pławczyk won bronze in the decathlon at the 1934 European Athletics Championships in Torino, where he had his best performances in the high jump and the pole vault. At the 1938 European Championships he once again competed in the decathlon, this time finishing sixth. Later the same year Pławczyk moved to France and joined the French Army. In 1940 he was interned by the Germans in Nuremberg and Königsberg before returning to France in 1943. He then had a variety of jobs including working as a sports instructor in Paris, a salesman near to Monte Carlo, and a teacher in Germany.

Personal Bests: HJ – 1.96 (1932); Dec – 6446 (1936).