Athletics at the 1980 Summer Olympics – Men's pole vault

The Men's Pole Vault event at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, Soviet Union had an entrylist of 19 competitors. The final was held on Wednesday 1980-07-30. The top twelve and ties and all those clearing 5.40 metres advanced to the final.

Throughout the event, home town fans were cheering for Konstantin Volkov, while booing, whistling and jeering at the Poles Tadeusz Ślusarski and Władysław Kozakiewicz. There were even accusations that the Soviet facility management were opening and closing giant doors to the stadium to change the wind pattern against opposing vaulters.

When Kozakiewicz secured his gold medal position, Kozakiewicz made the Bras d'honneur gesture which became known as "Kozakiewicz's gesture" (gest Kozakiewicza). in defiance to the Soviet crowd. He later confirmed his dominance over the competition by breaking the world record, clearing at 5.78 meters.

The photos of this incident circled the globe, with the exception of the Soviet Union and its satellites, although the event was broadcast live on TV in many countries of the Bloc. While international observers varied in their reaction to the incident, Kozakiewicz's act received much support in Polish society, which resented Soviet control over Eastern Europe (Poland was in the midst of labor strikes that led to the creation of the labor union Solidarity less than two months later). After the 1980 Olympics ended, the Soviet ambassador to Poland demanded that Kozakiewicz be stripped of his medal over his "insult to the Soviet people". The official response of the Polish government was that Kozakiewicz's arm gesture had been an involuntary muscle spasm caused by his exertion.

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Wikipedia