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): Albert Gleizes • Antonio de Benavides • Bodo Tümmler • Brettina • Chava Alberstein • Claude Balbastre • Daniel Fitzhenry • David Carradine • December 8 • Floyd Tillman • George Rogers (American football) • Ian Johnson (cricketer) • Janae Kroc • Jordan Obita • Josh Donaldson • Lee J. Cobb • Raheem Sterling • Red Berenson • William C. Durant

Born in the same month (December 1953): Andres Alver • András Schiff • Bess Armstrong • Dana Key • Franz Klammer • Geoff Hoon • John R. Allen • Kevin Beattie • Martin Ferguson (politician) • Mikael Odenberg • Rebecca Forstadt • Robert Charles Wilson • Roy Firestone • Vangelis Meimarakis • Wade Davis (anthropologist)