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): Abdullah Ercan • Amanda McKittrick Ros • Aristide Maillol • Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson • Bobby Elliott • Brettina • David Harewood • Georges Méliès • John Oster • Khaw Boon Wan • Norman Finkelstein • Reed Johnson • Thomas Cech • Tim Foli • Warren Cuccurullo

Born in the same month (December 1953): Alan Rusbridger • András Schiff • Bill Pullman • Chris Bury • Dana Key • Elliot Easton • Jane Badler • John Malkovich • Kaarlo Maaninka • Kevin Beattie • Kraftwerk • Leonel Fernández • Makis Katsavakis • Martha Wash • Martin Ferguson (politician) • Rafael Septién • Rebecca Forstadt • Richard Clayderman • Robert Charles Wilson • Timothy Carhart • Tom Underwood • Toomas Hendrik Ilves • Vijay Amritraj • Wade Davis (anthropologist) • World B. Free