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 • Chigusa Nagayo • Daniel Fitzhenry • December 8 • Dwight Howard • Floyd Tillman • František Xaver Dušek • Geoff Hurst • George Baker (Dutch singer) • Gregg Allman • Ingrid Michaelson • Janae Kroc • John Waters (actor) • Lee J. Cobb • Luis Caffarelli • Michel Ferté • Robert Sternberg • Rüdiger von der Goltz • Teri Hatcher • Tyler Mane

Born in the same month (December 1953): Franz Klammer • J. M. DeMatteis • Jean-Marie Pfaff • Makis Katsavakis • Norman Finkelstein • Rebecca Forstadt • Tatsumi Fujinami • Toomas Hendrik Ilves • Vangelis Meimarakis • Vijay Amritraj