Jerzy Janusz Opara ( Polish: Jerzy Janusz Opara ; August 21, 1948 , Warsaw ) - Polish canoe rower , played for the Polish national team throughout the 1970s. Silver medalist of the Summer Olympics in Montreal, twice silver and twice bronze medalist of world championships, winner of many regattas of national and international importance.
| Jerzy Opara | |
|---|---|
| personal information | |
| Floor | |
| A country |  Poland |
| Specialization | canoe , 500 m |
| Date of Birth | August 21, 1948 (70 years old) |
| Place of Birth | Warsaw , Poland |
| Growth | 176 cm |
| Weight | 80 kg |
Biography
Jerzy Opara was born on August 21, 1948 in Warsaw . He began to actively engage in rowing in early childhood, was trained in the capital's sports club "Skra".
He achieved his first serious success at the adult international level in 1970, when he joined the main squad of the Polish national team and attended the World Cup in Copenhagen, from where he brought the silver dignity, won in the standings of single canoes at a distance of 1000 meters. Thanks to a series of successful performances, he won the right to defend the country's honor at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich - he managed to reach the final stage among single-seat canoes at a kilometer distance, but finished only in ninth in the decisive race.
In 1973, Opara performed at the World Championships in Finnish Tampere, where at five hundred meters he became a bronze medalist in doubles. The following season, at the World Championships in Mexico City, he won a silver medal in the 2000s in doubles. Being one of the leaders of the rowing team of Poland, he successfully qualified for the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal - this time, together with his team mate Andrzej Gronovic, won silver in the half-kilometer doubles race, passing only the Soviet crew of Sergey Petrenko and Alexander Vinogradov ahead. He and Gronovich started on the kilometer, but here they finished in the finals only fourth, not reaching the prize positions.
After the Montreal Olympics, Jerzy Opara remained in the main team of the Polish national team and continued to take part in major international regattas. So, in 1977, at the World Championships in the Bulgarian Sofia, he added to the track record a bronze medal, obtained in doubles at a thousand meters. Soon after the end of these competitions, he decided to end his sports career, giving way to young Polish rowers.
Links
- Jerzy Opara - Olympic statistics at Sports-Reference.com
- Jerzy Opara - medals at major international competitions
- Lists of champions and prize-winners in rowing and canoeing (1936–2007) (English)