Wieslaw Maniak

Wiesław Maniak was a Polish sprinter who specialized in the 100 m dash. He spent his childhood in Great Britain and Ireland, where his father lived. He came to Poland in 1963 and joined the Legia Warsaw athletics club. He competed in two Olympic Games, winning a silver medal in the 4 x 100 m relay in Tokyo 1964 and finishing fourth in the 100 m final. He also won the gold medal in the 100 m at the European Championships in Budapest 1966, becoming the first Polish sprinter to achieve this feat. He set the Polish record of 10.1 s in the 100 m in 1965, which lasted for 19 years. He died in a car accident in 1982 while working on a contract at a power plant in the Soviet Union. He was buried in Warsaw, and his name was given to the Municipal Athletics Stadium in Szczecin. He is regarded as one of the best Polish sprinters of all time and the fastest white man in the world in his era.