Andrzej Badeński

Andrzej Badeński

Andrzej Badeński at the 1968 Olympics
Personal information
Born	10 May 1943 Warsaw, Poland
Died	28 September 2008 (aged 65) Wiesbaden, Germany
Height	1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Weight	68 kg (150 lb)
Sport
Sport	Sprint running
Club	Legia Warszawa
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)	400 m – 45.42 (1968)
Medal record Representing  Poland Olympic Games Tokyo 1964 400 m European Championships 1966 Budapest 4×400 m relay 1966 Budapest 400 m 1971 Helsinki 4×400 m relay European Indoor Championships 1968 Madrid 400 m 1968 Madrid 4×364 m relay 1969 Belgrade 4×390 m relay 1969 Belgrade Medley relay 1971 Sofia 400 m 1971 Sofia 4×400 m relay 1972 Grenoble 4×400 m relay 1970 Vienna 400 m 1970 Vienna 4×400 m relay

Andrzej Badenski (10 May 1943 – 28 September 2008) was a Polish sprinter who specialized in the 400 metres. He won a bronze medal at the 1964 Summer Olympics, and became European Indoor Champion in 1968 and in 1971.

Career

Badenski was born in Warsaw and represented the club Legia Warszawa.^[1] At the 1962 European Championships he finished sixth in the 400 metres.^[2] He did however win few international accolades before winning the bronze medal in the 400 metres at the 1964 Olympic Games. At the same Olympics he finished sixth in the 4×400 metres relay together with the Polish team.^[1] At the 1966 European Championships he won a silver medal in the 400 metres, only behind Stanislaw Gredzinski, and won the 4×400 metres relay together with Jan Werner, Edmund Borowski and Stanislaw Gredzinski.^[3][4]

After this, his greatest success would come in the regional indoor championships. At the 1967 European Indoor Games he competed in the relay final, but the team did not finish,^[5] and at the 1968 European Indoor Games he won a gold medal in the relay.^[6] He also won the individual distance at the 1968 European Indoor Games,^[7] and two relay gold medals at the 1969 European Indoor Games.^[8][9]

His second Olympic Games were in 1968. He finished seventh in the 400 metres.^[1] In the 4×400 metres relay he finished fourth together with Stanislaw Gredzinski, Jan Balachowski and Jan Werner.^[10] With the same team members he finished fourth in the relay at the 1969 European Championships.^[11] In the individual distance he finished sixth.^[12] At the 1970 European Indoor Championships he won two silver medals; in the individual distance^[7] as well as in relay.^[13] At the 1971 European Indoor Championships he won gold medals in both these events, the latter together with Waldemar Korycki, Jan Werner and Jan Balachowski.^[7][14] With the same team members he won a silver medal in the relay at the 1971 European Championships^[15] and a gold medal at the 1972 European Indoor Championships.^[16] At the 1972 Olympic Games he reached the semi-final in the 400 metres and finished fifth in the relay.^[1]

He became Polish 400 metres champion in 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965 and 1967,^[17] and in 1971 he became American indoor champion in the 600 yards event.^[18] His personal best time in the 400 metres was 45.42 seconds, achieved in 1968.^[1] At the end of his career in 1974 he defected to the West and lived in Germany until his death. He died near Wiesbaden in September 2008.^[1]

References

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