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Wladyslaw Komar

The Olympic Games, or Olympics, is an international multi-sport event taking place every four years which comprises of summer and winter games. Though the first ancient games were held in 776 B.C, the modern games started from 1896.The unity of the 5 continents is shown on the Olympic flag by five colorful intertwined rings of red, blue, green, yellow, and black, created by Baron Pierre de Coubertin to represent atleast one color of the participating country’s national flag.

Wladyslaw Komar was born on April 11, 1940 and died on August 17, 1998. He was a Polish shot put champion. In 1972 Olympics in Munich he won a gold medal 21.18 m. Wladyslaw Komar was one who managed to find himself in more trouble than most. He had many brushes with the authorities including suspension from the Polish national team on two occasions, officially for misbehaviour, although it was generally understood that it was for excessive drinking.

Despite this background, Komar had a quite long and successful international career representing Poland in the shot put. At his first European Championships in 1962, he finished fourth, and two years later, he finished 9th at the Olympic Games in Tokyo. Komar won his first medal in a major international competition when he finished third at the 1966 European Championships in Budapest. In 1968, Komar competed in a number of meets prior to the Olympic Games in Mexico City, including the Great Britain v Poland international at White City on 31 August.

At Mexico, in his second Olympics, Komar finished sixth with a best throw of 19.28m. Wladyslaw missed the 1969 European Championships, but competed in the next edition at Helsinki in 1971, where he won the bronze medal. Komar's finest hour was undoubtedly at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, where he caused some surprise by throwing a huge personal best and Olympic record of 21.18m on his first throw. The closest that any of the competitors, including Komar, got to this throw, was by George Woods, who threw an agonisingly close 21.17m in the fourth round, resulting in Komar winning the gold medal by only 1 centimetre. One of his last major championships appearances was in the 1974 European Championships at Rome where he finished in sixth place.

He is known for womanizing and drinking, after his successful sports career, he was a movie and theater star, as well as a singer.

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