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Poland’s Irena Szewińska named greatest female athlete of all time

29.04.2020 14:00
Irena Szewińska, Poland’s most decorated Olympian, has been posthumously named the world’s greatest female athlete of all time by US sports magazine Track & Field.
Irena Szewińska, pictured in 2016.
Irena Szewińska, pictured in 2016.Photo: PAP/Bartłomiej Zborowski

Szewińska, who died in 2018 at the age of 72, topped the magazine’s all-time World Rankings for women, ahead of Jamaican sprinter Merlene Ottey and German sprinter and long jumper Heike Drechsler.

A five-time Olympian between 1964 and 1980, Szewińska won seven medals, including three gold, in five different track-and-field events.

She claimed golds in the women’s 4x100 metres relay at the Tokyo Games in 1964, the 200 metres at Mexico City in 1968, and the 400 metres at Montreal in 1976.

She took silvers in the long jump and the 200 metres at Tokyo, and added bronzes in the 100 metres at Mexico City and the 200 metres at the Munich Games in 1972.

Meanwhile, Poland’s Anita Włodarczyk was ranked by Track & Field as the best female hammer thrower of all time, sharing first place with Germany’s Betty Heidler.

(gs/pk)

Source: eurosport.tvn24.pl, trackandfieldnews.com