Going for Gold

The history of a legendary Polish pole-vaulter, Władysław Kozakiewicz. At the Moscow 1980 Olympic Games, he competed in a passionate showdown with the Soviet Union representatives in front of millions of viewers. In the final, he won the gold medal and broke the world record. Upset by the Soviet public, he also made an unsportsmanlike, derogatory gesture interpreted as a political provocation. That moment changed the athlete’s life in the blink of an eye.