Zygmunt Weiss

Polish track and field athlete Zygmunt Weiss was a multi-time national champion and record holder who also had a career as a journalist. In his youth Weiss joined a local rugby team where his talent as a sprinter was spotted, with him joining AZS Warszawa shortly afterwards. He won seven Polish titles with victory in the 400 metres (1924), 4 x 100 metres (1924, 1927), and the 4 x 400 metres (1923–24, 1927–28), in addition to setting 27 national records in distances from 100 to 400 metres, including the relay events. At the 1924 Academic World Championships he won gold in the 400 metres and the two relay races. This earned him a place on the Polish Olympic team for the 1924 Paris Games where he ran in both the 100 and 200 metres. Weiss also competed at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics, running in the 400 metres and the 4 × 400 metres relay.

In 1927 Weiss began his career in journalism and became the head of the sports department at Wieczor Warszawy from 1929 to 1939. At the start of World War II he fought in the September Campaign but was later captured by the Germans and sent to the Gross Born prisoner-of-war camp. Whilst interned he edited by hand a magazine for the camp as well as organising the camp’s own version of the Olympics in 1944. Following liberation Weiss worked for the PE Department of the 1st Armoured Division where he wrote the sports column. From 1947 until his retirement in 1970 he wrote for Przegląd Sportowy, covering multiple sports including cycling, weightlifting, and speed skating.

Personal Bests: 100 – 11.0 (1924); 200 – 22.7 (1924); 400 – unknown.