Irena Szewinska was a Polish sprinter who dominated athletics in multiple events for 17 long years from 1964 to 1980. She is the only athlete in history, male or female, to have held the world records in the three sprints of 100m, 200m and 400m.
She was called ‘The first lady of Polish sport” by Poland’s President Andrzej Duda as she became the brightest star of Polish athletics. Irena is a five-time Olympian and her total medal tally included 7 Olympic Games, 10 European Championship, 6 European Indoor and 2 World University – a total of 25 medals. Her seven Olympic medals included 3 gold medals, 2 silver medals and 2 bronze medals.
Irena with a height of 1.76m and weighing 60 kgs became the first woman to break the 50-second barrier in 400m in 1974. Her 10 medals in European Championships included five gold, one silver and four bronze medals. Between 1965 and 1979 she gathered 26 national titles and set 38 records in the 100m to 400m sprints and long jump.
Birth and Growth
Irena Kirszenstein was born on May 24, 1946 in Leningrad to a Jewish-Polish family. Her father came from Warsaw and mother from Kiev. They met in Samarkand where they studied at the time, and moved to Warsaw in 1947.
At the age of 14 she started athletics at her school in Warsaw, where she was coached by Jan Kopyto, a former javelin thrower who competed at the Melbourne 1956 Olympic Games. “I ran so fast in the school trials that the teacher requested a re-run because she thought she’d made a mistake in measuring the time,” Szewinska said.
In 1967, she married her coach, Janusz Szewinski, who also competed in hurdles at the national level and later worked as a sports photographer. They had two sons, Andrzej Szewinski, born in 1970, who played volleyball for the Poland men’s national team and later became a senator, and Jarosław who was born in 1981.
In 1970, Irena graduated from the University of Warsaw with an MSc degree in economics. During her career, she had been elected as Polish Sports Personality of the Year four times by the Przegląd Sportowy magazine.
The spikes that she wore at the 1976 Games are now on display in the Museum of World Athletics – the world’s first 3D virtual sports museum.
Tokyo 1964 Olympic Games
Irena made her Olympic debut at just 18 years at the Tokyo 1964 Summer Olympic Games. Competing under the name of Irena Kirszenstein, she won a silver medal in the long jump with a leap of 6.60m and followed it with another silver medal in the 200m clocking 23.1 sec.
Then, she ran the second leg in the 4x100m relay and won her first Olympic gold medal, clocking 43.6 sec. It was Poland’s first ever relay gold at the Olympic Games and only the second Olympic medal in that event after their bronze medal in Rome in 1960.
At the European Junior Games 1964 held in Warsaw, Poland she won 200m at 23.5 sec, long jump clearing 6.19 m and 4x100m relay in 46.6 sec. Irena was a double sprint winner at the 1965 Summer Universiade that took place in Budapest, Hungary, winning both 100m in 11.3 sec and 200m in 23.5 sec.
Irena established her first world record in 100m clocking 11.1 sec in Prague, Czechoslovakia on July 9, 1965. The previous record of 11.2 was established in 1964 by the USA’s Wyomia Tyus, who remained one of her strongest competitors over this distance for the next three years.
Then, she broke the 200m world record for the first time, running 22.7 sec in the Polish capital of Warsaw on August 8, 1965. At the European Athletics Championships 1966, she won gold in the long jump with 6.55 m, 200m in 23.1 sec and 4x100m relay in 44.49 sec and took a silver in the 100m with 11.5 sec.
Mexico 1968 Olympics
After earning her MSc from the University of Warsaw, Irena’s second Olympic appearance was at Mexico 1968.She arrived in Mexico City as Irena Szewinska after her marriage in 1967. She failed to qualify for the finals in long jump. She picked up a bronze medal in the 100m, clocking 11.18 sec, behind the US one-two of Wyomia Tyus and Barbara Ferrell.
“Things started badly for me in Mexico City,” she said. “I didn’t qualify for the long jump final, and my second event was the 100m which wasn’t my favorite event. Because of my height, I always start poorly, and by the time I was in full stride the race was over,” she said.
Irena then qualified for the 200m final after finishing third in her semifinal and lined up against a strong field.She recovered from all the disappointments, to win the Olympic gold medal in the 200m in a new world record time of 22.58 sec on October 18, 1968.
In the 4x100m sprint relay the Polish team dropped the baton on the final exchange in the semi-final and finished last. At the European Indoor Games 1969 in Belgrade, Serbia, she won gold medals in 50m with 6.4 sec and long jump with 6.38m and a silver from the medley relay with 4:53.2.
At the European Indoor Championships 1971 in Sofia, Bulgaria, she managed a silver medal in the long jump with 6.56m and was fourth in 60m clocking 7.5 sec. At the European Championships 1971 in Helsinki, Finland, she won a bronze in 200m clocking 23.32 sec and was fifth in long jump with 6.62m and sixth in 100m with 11.63 sec.
Munich 1972 Olympics
After giving birth to the first of her two sons in 1971 and recovering from an ankle injury, she managed a bronze medal in the long jump at the European Championships 1971 in Helsinki. The, Irena made it to her third Olympics in Munich, West Germany in 1972, where she competed in the three events, the two sprints and the long jump. She would come away with a bronze medal in the 200m clocking 22.74 sec.
Through the many years of training, Irena could build a tremendous amount of endurance as she got older. Her speed in the 200m was increasing and not decreasing, therefore it was logical that her natural speed, combined with the endurance, would make the 400m the ideal distance for her. Janusz and Irena agreed to switch to the 400m.
At the European Indoor Championships 1973 in Rotterdam, Netherlands, she was fourth in 60m with 7.35 sec. Just two years after her first attempt at the 400m, Irena established a new world record of 49.9 sec in Warsaw, Poland on June 22, 1974, becoming the first woman to run under 50 sec. The 400m women’s world records were recognized from 1957 but from 1975 onwards they had to be electronically timed.
Irena set a new world record of 22.21 sec for 200m at Potsdam, East Germany on June 13, 1974. Then, at the European Indoor Championships 1974 in Gothenburg, Sweden, she secured a bronze in 60m, clocking 7.20 sec.
At the European Championships 1974 in Rome, Italy, she won both 100m in 11.13 sec and 200m in 22.51 sec beating favored GDR sprinter Renate Stecherand and her 4x100m relay team won a bronze medal. In the 4x400m relay they were fourth.
She was ranked number 1 in the world in the 100, 200 and 400 m events in 1974.At the European Indoor Championships 1975 in Katowice, Poland, she managed to secure a bronze in 60m with 7.26 sec.
The first woman to run a sub-50-second electronic time was Christina Brehmer from East Germany who ran 49.77. This record only stood a month before Irena established a new world record of 49.75 seconds on home soil in Bydgoszcz, Poland on June 22, 1976.
Montreal 1976 Olympics
Irena won the gold in the 400m in a world record time of 49.29 sec on July 29, 1976 at the Montreal 1976 Olympic Games, which would be her final Olympic medal. Her career total increased to seven medals in five different events at the Olympic Games.
Her Olympic and world record performance in the 400m remains the Polish record. She added a third Olympic gold medal to her collection, equaling Australian Shirley Strickland’s record at that time of the most Olympic athletics medals won by a woman.
At the World Cup 1977 in Dusseldorf, West Germany, at the age of 31, she won both 200m and 400m clocking 22.72 and 49.52. Irena beat both favored East German runners Barbel Wockel and Marita Koch respectively.
Koch dominated the 400m race but Irena, a renowned strong finisher, fought to the end to overtake Koch in the last 30m, winning in 49.52 sec, her second best ever time. Irena was ranked number 1 in the world for 200m and 400m in 1976 and 1977.
At the European Championships 1978 in Prague, Czechoslovakia, which was her final appearance at the European Championships, she won a bronze medal in 400m with 50.40 seconds and a second bronze in 4x400m relay at the age of 32. At the World Cup 1979 in Montreal, Canada, she managed a bronze in 400m with 51.15 sec.
Moscow 1980 Olympics
In 1980, she participated in the Olympic Games in Moscow, but pulled a muscle in the semifinals of the 400m and was eliminated. Thus, her long and distinguished athletics career ended at her fifth Olympic participation at Moscow 1980. She retired from the sport soon after and gave birth to her second son in 1981.
She was ranked number one in the world seven times in the 200m; four times in the 400m, and two times in the 100m; as well as three times in the long jump. Overall, she was ranked 15 years in the top ten at the 200m, also four times number two and twice at number three.Thus, from 1964 to 1977, she was ranked in the Top Three in 200m in the world.
She was ranked 12 times in the 100m, 8 times in the long jump and 6 times in the 400m. She won the European Sportsperson of the Year presented by the Polish Press Agency twice in 1966 and 1974. She obtained United Press International Athlete of the Year Award, Female 1974.
Between 1974 and 1978, she won 34 straight 400m finals. She was the President of the Polish Athletic Association from 1997 to 2009. Irena was named a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1998.
Transition from Athlete to Administrator
“After her career ended, she was granted the honorable function of an IOC member. She treated it as a great honor, she liked and knew how to make contacts, she was also liked and popular, especially in Japan. She was looking forward to the Olympic Games in Tokyo with joy and excitement. She started her adventure with the Olympics in 1964 in Tokyo, so this place was very close to her and very important to her.” Janusz said.
He continued: “She was an ambassador of clean sport. Her result (49.29) at the Olympics in Montreal (1976) is still a great inspiration for female athletes running 400m. She did something incredible, winning medals at four Olympics in a row. But always, despite her sports successes and honours, the most important things for her were children and family. For years, I was also her photographer, I have photos that I keep coming back to. Recently, I took photos of all seven of her Olympic medals and juxtaposed them with specific photos from the Games. I miss my Irena.”
After a distinguished career in athletics, Poland’s most decorated Olympian transitioned to become a respected administrator in sports, giving back to the sport that she loved since her school days. On August 3, 2005, she was elected as the third woman to the council of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) during the 45th IAAF Congress in Helsinki.
She was a member of the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. In 2012, she was inducted into the IAAF Hall of Fame. Four years later, she received the Order of the White Eagle, Poland’s highest award. “Sport was a great adventure of my life, when I was an athlete and my fate was that I am still connected with sport. I am passionate about it, this is my hobby,” Irena said.
In the words of her husband, Janusz: “I first met Irena when she was 16 years old. She was very calm, nice, always kind to others. We became closer and sympathized with each other during a training camp in Kluczbork in 1962. We were married for 57 years. Despite becoming a sporting star, Irena remained herself. Her calmness was astonishing, even after coming victorious from a race, she remained calm and kept her happiness inside.”
“Before the start, she remained calm, did not have any special rituals, and was not superstitious. In those days, there was no special diet - she ate milk soup for breakfast, and pork chops for lunch. She felt good both in an ordinary hostel and a five-star hotel. She also reconciled being a great athlete with being a mother of two sons. She devoted as much time and attention to the children as she could,” he said.
“She really enjoyed training even if it was raining or snowing. She improved very quickly and started to break records, which gave her even more motivation to work hard. Even long after the end of her career, she liked to go for walks in the woods with her dogs.
Acting was her passion. She attended acting classes at the Palace of Culture and Science. At the same time, Daniel Olbrychski, who dreamed of becoming a great athlete, attended sports classes there. Over the years their roles have changed - Irena became an outstanding sportswoman, and he became a great actor,” he said.
Irena lost her long battle with cancer on June 29, 2018, aged 72 in Warsaw at the Military Institute of Medicine on Szaserow Street. She was buried as a Catholic at the “Avenue of the Meritorious” in the Powązki Military Cemetery in Warsaw.
In 2020, she was posthumously honoured with a World Athletics Heritage Plaque, one of the first ever awarded, during a ceremony before the Szewinska Memorial meeting in Bydgoszcz. In 2021, she was voted Polish Sportsperson of the Century by the readers of the Przegląd Sportowy magazine.
(The author is the winner of Presidential Awards for Sports and recipient of multiple National Accolades for Academic pursuits. He possesses a PhD, MPhil and double MSc. He can be reached at [email protected])