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): Astorre II Manfredi • Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson • Bob Arum • Carmen Martín Gaite • Gregg Allman • Ian Johnson (cricketer) • Meagan Duhamel • Philip Holm • Ryan Newman (racing driver) • Yuliya Krevsun

Born in the same month (December 1953): Bess Armstrong • Betty Wright • Bob Gainey • Charlie Pierce • Cornelis de Bondt • Graham Vick • Ian Turnbull (ice hockey) • J. M. DeMatteis • Kaarlo Maaninka • Martha Wash • Meredith Vieira • Norman Finkelstein • René Eespere • Roy Firestone • Steve Yates (footballer, born 1953) • Toomas Hendrik Ilves