Władysław Kozakiewicz

Władysław Kozakiewicz is a retired Polish athlete who specialised in the pole vault. He is best known for winning the gold medal at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow and the bras d'honneur gesture which he showed to the hostile Soviet crowd. In Poland, where the gesture was viewed as a symbol of resistance against Soviet dominance, it became known as "Kozakiewicz's gesture". In addition, he won several medals at continental level, won two Summer Universiades and broke the pole vault world record three times, twice outdoors and once indoors. He is also a ten-time Polish champion.

8 December 1953

Born on the same birth date (8 December 1953): Kim Basinger • Norman Finkelstein • Roy Firestone • Sam Kinison • Steve Yates (footballer, born 1953)

Born on the same birth day (8 December): Ann Coulter • Arne Næss Jr. • Bob Greene (fitness) • Bohuslav Martinů • Chrisette Michele • Darren Sheridan • David Carradine • December 8 • Ernie Toshack • Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor • Jen Ledger • Michael Z. Hobson • Richard Fleischer • Rudolph Pariser • Stephen Jefferies • Édson Ribeiro

Born in the same month (December 1953): Bess Armstrong • Cornelis de Bondt • Gerrit W. Gong • Graham Vick • Gwen Lister • Kevin Beattie • Leonel Fernández • Norman Finkelstein • Rebecca Forstadt • Steve Yates (footballer, born 1953)