Ryszard Jan Szurkowski (12 January 1946 – 1 February 2021) was a Polish

road bicycle racer Road bicycle racing is the cycle sport discipline of road cycling, held primarily on paved roads. Road racing is the most popular professional form of bicycle racing, in terms of numbers of competitors, events and spectators. The two most com ...

, widely regarded as a legend of the sport in

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 ...

Career

He was a silver medalist in the team trial at the

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...

and

1976 Events January * January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 18 – Full diplomatic ...

Summer Olympics, and also won three gold medals at the World Cycling Amateur Championships, two in 1973 (including one in the individual road race) and one in 1975. He won the

Peace Race The Peace Race (, , , (), , , , ) is a cycling race that was established as the largest event in Eastern Europe after the Second World War. Since 2013, it has been run as one of the most prestigious stage races for national U23 teams. Histo ...

four times, in 1970, 1971, 1973 and 1975. He also came first twice in

Dookoła Mazowsza The Dookoła Mazowsza (Around Mazovia) is a cycling race held annually in Mazovia, Poland. It was first held in 1951 and has been held annually since, with the exceptions of 1981–1982, 1991–1992, and 1994–1996. The most successful rider is ...

, in 1977 and 1978. His son, Norbert, died in the

September 11 attack The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

s. In 2018, Szurkowski crashed during a bike race in Germany, suffering serious injuries, including a crushed spinal cord that left him paralyzed. After five months of therapy, he regained some of the sensation in his toes. He died on 1 February 2021, twenty days after his 75th birthday.

References

External links

* 1946 births 2021 deaths People from Milicz County Polish male cyclists Cyclists at the 1972 Summer Olympics Cyclists at the 1976 Summer Olympics Olympic cyclists for Poland Olympic silver medalists for Poland Olympic medalists in cycling Cyclists from Lower Silesian Voivodeship Medalists at the 1972 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1976 Summer Olympics UCI Road World Champions (elite men) 20th-century Polish sportsmen {{Poland-Olympic-medalist-stub