Bronisław Czech

Bronisław "Bronek" Czech (; 25 July 1908 – 4 June 1944) was a Polish sportsman and artist. A gifted skier, he won championships of Poland 24 times in various skiing disciplines, including Alpine skiing, Nordic skiing and ski jumping. A member of the Polish national team at three consecutive Winter Olympics, he was also one of the pioneers of mountain rescue in the Tatra Mountains and a glider instructor. He was murdered in the Auschwitz concentration camp.

Biography

Czech was born 25 July 1908 in Zakopane, then in Austro-Hungarian Galicia. His parents were Józef Czech and Stanisława née Namysłowska. There he attended local public school and a private gymnasium, but in the end he finished only three classes of a local wood industry school (in 1927). The same year he joined the SN PTT-1907 Klub Sportowy Kemping Zakopane. In late 1920s he moved to Warsaw, where he graduated from the Central Institute of Physical Education. This gave him the diploma of a professional gymnastics teacher and a skiing instructor.

Invalid ski jumping world record

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:left; line-height:16px; width:44%;"

! width="45"|Date

! width="200"|Hill

! width="180"|Location

! width="53"|Metres

! width="53"|Feet

|-bgcolor=#FAEBD7

| align=right|1931  

| Trampolino Gigante Corno d’Aola

| Ponte di Legno, Kingdom of Italy

| align=center|79.5

| align=center|261

<small> Not recognized! Crashed shortly after standing at world record distance, although judges recognized it.</small>