Jadwiga Wajs-Marcinkiewicz (30 January 1912 in

Pabianice Pabianice is a city in central Poland with 63,023 inhabitants (2021). Situated in the Łódź Voivodeship, it is the capital of Pabianice County. It lies about southwest of Łódź and belongs to the metropolitan area of that city. It is the thi ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

– 1 February 1990) was a Polish

athlete An athlete is most commonly a person who competes in one or more sports involving physical strength, speed, power, or endurance. Sometimes, the word "athlete" is used to refer specifically to sport of athletics competitors, i.e. including track ...

who mainly competed in the discus throw.

Career

She competed for Poland at the

1932 Summer Olympics The 1932 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the X Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1932) were an international multi-sport event held from July 30 to August 14, 1932, in Los Angeles, California, United States. The Games were held du ...

held in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, United States, in the women's discus throw event, winning the bronze medal. Four years later she threw the discus again for Poland in the

1936 Summer Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XI Olympiad () and officially branded as Berlin 1936, were an international multi-sport event held from 1 to 16 August 1936 in Berlin, then capital of Nazi Germany. Berlin won the bid to ...

held in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, Germany where she split the German pair

Gisela Mauermayer Gisela Mauermayer (24 November 1913 – 9 January 1995) was a German athlete who competed mainly in the discus. She won the gold medal at the 1936 Summer Olympics held in Berlin, Germany. Biography Gisela Mauermayer was born on 24 November 1913 ...

and Paula Mollenhauer in winning the silver medal. Jadwiga Wajs was Jewish, her father's ancestors came to

Livonia Livonia, known in earlier records as Livland, is a historical region on the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea. It is named after the Livonians, who lived on the shores of present-day Latvia. By the end of the 13th century, the name was extende ...

and

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

from

Westfalen Westphalia (; ; ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants. The territory of the region is almost identical with the h ...

in the 13th century. Their

heraldic crest A crest is a component of a heraldic display, consisting of the device borne on top of the helm. Originating in the decorative sculptures worn by knights in tournaments and, to a lesser extent, battles, crests became solely pictorial after t ...

was the white swan.

References

External links

* 1912 births 1990 deaths Polish female discus throwers Polish female shot putters Polish people of Jewish descent Olympic athletes for Poland Athletes (track and field) at the 1932 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1936 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1948 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for Poland Olympic bronze medalists for Poland Sportspeople from Pabianice World record setters in athletics (track and field) European Athletics Championships medalists Athletes from Łódź Voivodeship People from Piotrków Governorate People from the Russian Empire of German descent Polish people of German descent Medalists at the 1936 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1932 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field) Olympic bronze medalists in athletics (track and field) Women's World Games medalists Recipients of the Silver Cross of Merit (Poland) Members of the Polish Gymnastic Society "Sokół" 20th-century Polish sportswomen {{Poland-discusthrow-athletics-bio-stub