Piotr Małachowski

Piotr Małachowski (Polish pronunciation: [ˈpjɔtr mawaˈxɔfski]; born 7 June 1983) is a Polish discus thrower, two-time silver medalist at the 2008 Summer Olympics and 2016 Summer Olympics. His personal best throw is 71.84 metres, ranks him fifth in all-time longest discus throw distances, achieved on 8 June 2013 at Hengelo, the Netherlands.

Piotr Małachowski
Piotr Małachowski in 2011
Personal information
NationalityPolish
Born (1983-06-07) 7 June 1983
Żuromin, Poland
Height2.01 m (6 ft 7 in)
Weight130 kg (287 lb) (2012)
Sport
SportAthletics
Event(s)Discus throw
ClubŚląsk Wrocław
Coached byWitold Suski (–2019)
Gerd Kanter (2019–)
Medal record
Men's athletics
Representing  Poland
Event 1st 2nd 3rd
Olympic Games 0 2 0
World Championships 1 2 0
European Championships 2 0 0
Continental Cup 0 0 0
European Team Championships 2 2 1
Total 4 6 1
Olympic Games
2008 BeijingDiscus
2016 Rio de JaneiroDiscus
World Championships
2015 BeijingDiscus
2009 BerlinDiscus
2013 MoscowDiscus
European Championships
2010 BarcelonaDiscus
2016 AmsterdamDiscus
European Team Championships
2009 LeiriaDiscus
2019 Bydgoszcz Discus
2010 BergenDiscus
2014 BraunschweigDiscus
2011 StockholmDiscus
European Cup Winter Throwing
2007 LeiriaDiscus
European U23 Championships
2005 ErfurtDiscus

Career

Małachowski's throwing distances are seen as even more remarkable as he is not as tall as most discus throwers. Małachowski is one inch shorter than Beijing Olympic champion Gerd Kanter and three inches shorter than world champion Robert Harting and discus great Virgillius Alekna. The typical height of a discus thrower is between 1.95 and 2.00 m (6 ft 5 in and 6 ft 7 in). Despite his height disadvantage, Małachowski makes up for it with his incredible ring speed. Malachowski is seen as one of the quickest discus throwers in the ring of all time, closely followed by Róbert Fazekas.

On 19 August 2008, he won an Olympic silver medal in discus throw (67.82 m) placing behind Gerd Kanter (68.82 m). On 23 May 2009, in Halle he threw 68.75 m with a new PB and NR. On 14 July 2009, he was second in IAAF Golden League Berlin, Germany (67.70 m) to be only beaten by Gerd Kanter (67.88 m).

With an injured finger, Małachowski took a silver medal (69.15 m - NR) at 2009 World Championships in Berlin.

In 2010, he took victory in Golden Gala, IAAF Diamond League (68.78 m), beating second-placed Gerd Kanter (67.69 m), and another win in British Grand Prix (69.83 m - NR).

On 13 August 2016, Małachowski won his second Olympic silver (67.55 m), being surprisingly beaten by German Christoph Harting (68.37 m - PB). He announced shortly afterwards that he would sell his Olympic silver medal to raise funds for a 3-year-old boy with a rare form of cancer.[1] The medal was sold at an auction a few days later.[2]

Achievements
Year Competition Venue Position Notes
Representing  Poland
2001 European Junior Championships Grosseto, Italy 5th 52.37 m
2002 World Junior Championships Kingston, Jamaica 6th 60.46 m (1.75 kg)
2003 European U23 Championships Bydgoszcz, Poland 9th 54.79 m
2005 European U23 Championships Erfurt, Germany 2nd 63.99 m
2006 European Cup Málaga, Spain 1st 66.21 m
European Championships Gothenburg, Sweden 6th 64.57 m
World Athletics Final Stuttgart, Germany 6th 62.50 m
2007 European Cup Munich, Germany 1st 66.09 m
World Championships Osaka, Japan 12th 60.77 m
World Athletics Final Stuttgart, Germany 3rd 65.35 m
2008 Olympic Games Beijing, China 2nd 67.82 m
World Athletics Final Stuttgart, Germany 2nd 66.07 m
2009 European Team Championships Leiria, Portugal 1st 66.24 m
World Championships Berlin, Germany 2nd 69.15 m
World Athletics Final Thessaloniki, Greece 3rd 65.60 m
2010 European Championships Barcelona, Spain 1st 68.87 m
2011 World Championships Daegu, South Korea 9th 63.37 m
2012 Olympic Games London, United Kingdom 5th 67.19 m
2013 World Championships Moscow, Russia 2nd 68.36 m
2014 European Championships Zürich, Switzerland 4th 63.54 m
2015 World Championships Beijing, China 1st 67.40 m
2016 European Championships Amsterdam, Netherlands 1st 67.06 m
Olympic Games Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 2nd 67.55 m
2017 World Championships London, United Kingdom 5th 65.24 m
2018 European Championships Berlin, Germany – NM
2019 World Championships Doha, Qatar 17th (q) 62.20 m

For his sport achievements, he received:
Golden Cross of Merit in 2008.
Golden Medal for Merit for Country Defence in 2009.
Knight's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (5th Class) in 2009.

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See also
  • Polish records in athletics

References
  1. "Polish athlete puts Olympic medal up for sale to help boy with cancer". Reuters. 19 August 2016.
  2. Imam, Jareen (27 August 2016). "Olympian sells medal to fund child's cancer treatment". CNN.
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