Zbigniew Marcin Bródka (; born 8 October 1984) is a Polish

speed skater Speed skating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors racing, race each other in travelling a certain distance on Ice skate, skates. Types of speed skating are long-track speed skating, short-track speed skating, and marath ...

and a 2014 Olympic champion in 1500 metres. He also works as a

firefighter A firefighter (or fire fighter or fireman) is a first responder trained in specific emergency response such as firefighting, primarily to control and extinguish fires and respond to emergencies such as hazardous material incidents, medical in ...

in the

State Fire Service State Fire Service (, PSP) is a professional fire fighting service in Poland. It is subordinate to the Ministry of Interior and Administration (Poland), Polish Ministry of Interior and Administration. The modern State Fire Service is based on t ...

station in

Łowicz Łowicz is a town in central Poland with 27,436 inhabitants (2021). It is situated in the Łódź Voivodeship. Together with a nearby station of Bednary, Łowicz is a major rail junction of central Poland, where the line from Warsaw splits into ...

Personal life

Bródka was born in

Głowno Głowno is a town and community in Poland, in Łódź Voivodeship, in Zgierz County, about 25 km northeast of Łódź. The town administratively belonged to the Łódź Voivodeship from 1975 to 1998. According to data from 2020, the city had ...

, Poland, on 8 October 1984. Since 2009, he has worked as a

in the

() station in

. He represents a local sports club, UKS Błyskawica Domaniewice. He is married to Agnieszka and has two daughters - Gabriela and Amelia.

Competitive career

Before becoming a

long track speed skater 　 Long-track speed skating, usually simply referred to as speed skating, is the Olympic sport, Olympic discipline of speed skating where competitors are timed while crossing a set distance. It is also a sport for leisure. Sports such as ice skat ...

, Bródka competed in

middle-distance running Middle-distance running events are Track and field#Running, track races longer than Sprint (running), sprints, ranging from 500 metres up to . The standard middle distances are the 800 metres, 1500 metres and mile run, although the 3000 metres m ...

and short track. He often trains in Germany, as Poland lacks appropriate facilities for long track speed skating. When he trains in Poland, Bródka is forced to improvise, including using

roller skates Roller skates are boots with wheels mounted to the bottom, allowing the user to travel on hard surfaces similarly to an ice skater on ice. The first roller skate was an inline skate design, effectively an ice skate with a line of wheels replac ...

to imitate

ice skating Ice skating is the Human-powered transport, self-propulsion and gliding of a person across an ice surface, using metal-bladed ice skates. People skate for various reasons, including recreation (fun), exercise, competitive sports, and commuting. ...

movements. In 2006, an accident prevented him from participating in the

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics (), officially the XX Olympic Winter Games () and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February in Turin, Italy. This marked the second time Italy had hosted the Winter O ...

. In 2010, he made his Olympic debut in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

, finishing 27th in the men's 1500 metres. In the following years, he took part in several Polish and European championships, placing well and winning several competitions (a total of five gold medals until 2014) in Poland. At the 2013 World Single Distance Championships, Bródka helped Poland capture the bronze medal in the men's team pursuit with teammates Jan Szymański and

Konrad Niedźwiedzki Konrad Łukasz Niedźwiedzki (born 2 January 1985, Polish pronunciation: �kɔnɾat ɲɛd͡ʑˈvʲjɛt͡ski is a Polish long track speed skater who participates in international competitions. Personal life Konrad Niedźwiedzki was born in Wars ...

. It was the first victory for Poland's male speed skaters in that discipline. In the 2012–13 season, he also won the men's 1500 metres World Cup, the first Polish speed skater to do so. At the

2014 Winter Olympics The 2014 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXII Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Sochi 2014 (), were an international winter multi-sport event that was held from 7 to 23 February 2014 in Sochi, Russia. Opening ro ...

Sochi Sochi ( rus, Сочи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg, from – ''seaside'') is the largest Resort town, resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi (river), Sochi River, along the Black Sea in the North Caucasus of Souther ...

, he became the 2014 Olympic champion in 1500 metres, winning by only 0.003 sec. He is the first Pole to receive a gold medal in this discipline. He won the bronze medal at the

2018 European Speed Skating Championships The 2018 European Speed Skating Championships were held between 5 and 7 January 2018 at the Kolomna Speed Skating Center in Kolomna, Russia. Events For the first time the European Championship is a single distance championship, with the followin ...

in the Team pursuit event in

Kolomna Kolomna (, ) is a historic types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in Moscow Oblast, Russia, situated at the confluence of the Moskva River, Moskva and Oka Rivers, (by rail) southeast of Moscow. Population: History Mentioned for the fir ...

with his teammates Jan Szymański and

Adrian Wielgat Adrian Wielgat (born 10 February 1993) is a Polish speed skater. He competed in the men's 5000 metres at the 2018 Winter Olympics The 2018 Winter Olympics (), officially the XXIII Olympic Winter Games (; ) and also known as PyeongChan ...

. He was chosen to be the flagbearer of the Polish team at the

2018 Winter Olympic Games The 2018 Winter Olympics (), officially the XXIII Olympic Winter Games (; ) and also known as PyeongChang 2018 (), were an international winter multi-sport event held between 9 and 25 February 2018 in Pyeongchang County, South Ko ...

Pyeongchang Pyeongchang ( , ; in full, ''Pyeongchang-gun'' ) is a county in the province of Gangwon-do, South Korea, located in the Taebaek Mountains region. It is home to several Buddhist temples, including Woljeongsa. It is about east southeast of Seo ...

, same as at the

2022 Winter Olympics The 2022 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXIV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Beijing 2022 (2022), were an international winter multi-sport event held from 4 to 20 February 2022 in Beijing, China, and surrounding areas wit ...

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

Personal records

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Brodka, Zbigniew 1984 births Living people Polish male speed skaters Speed skaters at the 2010 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 2014 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 2018 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 2022 Winter Olympics Olympic speed skaters for Poland Medalists at the 2014 Winter Olympics Olympic medalists in speed skating Olympic gold medalists for Poland Olympic bronze medalists for Poland Polish firefighters Sportspeople from Łódź Voivodeship People from Głowno World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships medalists 21st-century Polish sportsmen