Jānis Dimza
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Jānis Dimza (1 November 1906, Ipiķi parish – 1942) was a
Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...
n decathlete. He placed fourth at the European Championships in 1934, and challenged for medals at the
Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...
in 1932 until he injured himself in the pole vault.


Career

Dimza placed second in the
pentathlon A pentathlon is a contest featuring five events. The name is derived from Greek language, Greek: combining the words ''pente'' (five) and -''athlon'' (competition) (). The first pentathlon was documented in Ancient Greece and was part of the Anci ...
at the
1930 International University Games The 1930 International University Games were organised by the Confederation Internationale des Etudiants (CIE) and held in Darmstadt, Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies be ...
in
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. The pentathlon had been discontinued as an Olympic event after 1924, so at the 1932 Olympic Games in
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he only competed in the
decathlon The decathlon is a combined event in athletics consisting of 10 track and field events. The word "decathlon" was formed, in analogy to the word "pentathlon", from Greek δέκα (''déka'', meaning "ten") and ἄθλος (''áthlos'', or ἄ ...
. He had scored 7789 points in that event in 1931, and was one of many favorites in what was expected to be a close competition. He was a close fourth after seven events; in the eighth event, pole vault, he cleared 3.50 m to move up to second place, but landed badly and injured his leg. He was unable to continue. Dimza returned to competition once his leg healed, placing 4th at the 1934 European Championships in
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. At the 1936 Olympics he again failed to finish, retiring from the
competition Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero-sum game). Competition can arise between entities such as organisms, indi ...
after the fourth event. In total, he was Latvian champion 36 times in a variety of events. In 1932 he was awarded the Order of the Three Stars 5th Class. He died in a Soviet prison camp during
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dimza, Janis 1906 births 1942 deaths People from Valmiera Municipality Sportspeople from Vidzeme Latvian decathletes Athletes (track and field) at the 1932 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1936 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Latvia Latvian people who died in Soviet detention