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Halina Konopacka: Famous Polish Female Athlete and Woman of Arts (Sport, Literature, Painting)

2023; Routledge; Volume: 40; Issue: 9 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/09523367.2023.2245759

1743-9035

Michał Mazurkiewicz,

Polish-Jewish Holocaust Memory Studies

AbstractSports heroes have long been drawing the attention of scholars. Their achievements resonate widely, and their stories are engraved in the collective memory of fans. Halina Konopacka was one of the early pioneers of female sport. She was the first woman to win an Olympic gold in track and field (discus, 1928). She was also Poland’s first Olympic gold medal winner. She therefore became an embodiment of success in the newborn Polish state and the first interwar celebrity, confirmed by the social reception of her accomplishments. Konopacka had an all-round personality; apart from being an outstanding sportswoman, she was also a poet and painter. Thus, her legacy is rich and multifaceted, demonstrated by sports press reports, interviews and fans’ opinions, as well as Konopacka’s utterances and biographies of her.Keywords: PolandOlympicsartpoetrydiscus Disclosure StatementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1 Wojciech Lipoński, ʻColosseum świataʼ [The Coliseum of the World], Kultura, no. 50, December 16, 1973, 4.2 Michał Mazurkiewicz, Baseball i piłka nożna w amerykańskiej i polskiej kulturze jako przykład współczesnego mitu i rytuału [Baseball and Football in American and Polish Cultures as an Example of Contemporary Myth and Ritual] (Kielce: UJK, 2014), 68.3 Jan Lis, Bogdan Tuszyński, Wspomnienia olimpijskie [Olympic Memories] (Warszawa: SiT, 1976), 26.4 Susan K. Cahn, Coming on Strong: Gender and Sexuality in Twentieth-Century Women’s Sport (New York: Free Press, 1994).5 Lipoński, Historia sportu (Warszawa: PWN, 2012), 520.6 Nameeta Mathur, ʻ“The New Sportswoman”: Nationalism, Feminism and Women's Physical Culture in Interwar Polandʼ, The Polish Review 48, no. 4 (2003): 455–56.7 ʻPo zwycięstwieʼ [After the Victory], Stadjon, no. 32, 1928, 3.8 Norman Davies, God's Playground: A History of Poland. Vol. II, 1795 to the Present (Oxford: OUP, 2013), 364.9 Agnieszka Metelska, Złota: Legenda Haliny Konopackiej [The Golden One: The Legend of Halina Konopacka] (Wołowiec: Czarne, 2019), 305.10 Richard Holt and J. A. Mangan, ʻPrologue: Heroes of a European Pastʼ, in European Heroes: Myth, Identity, Sport, ed. Richard Holt, J. A. Mangan, and Pierre Lanfranchi (Abingdon: Frank Cass, 1996), 10.11 ʻOrder Orła Białegoʼ [Order of the White Eagle], in Maria Rotkiewicz, Z radości życia: Halina Konopacka [From the Joy of Life: Halina Konopacka] (Olszanica: Bosz, 2018), 12.12 Quoted in Krzysztof Szujecki. Sportsmenki: Pierwsze Polskie Olimpijki, Medalistki, Rekordzistki [Sportswomen: The First Polish Female Olympians, Medalists, Record Breakers] (Warszawa: SiT – Muza, 2020), 188.13 Metelska, Złota:… [The Golden One:…], 19.14 See: Kinga Kimic, ʻIdea wychowania fizycznego oraz poprawy zdrowia dzieci realizowana w warszawskich Ogrodach im. W. E. Raua w I połowie XX wiekuʼ [The Idea of Physical Education and Health Enhancement Realized in the Children’s Gardens of W. E. Rau in Warsaw in the First Decades of the 20th Century], in Dziecko w kulturze europejskiej [A Child in European Culture], ed. Katarzyna Bogacka (Warszawa: SGGW, 2016), 243–62.15 Jan Lis, ʻZ błękitu nieba, zieloności trawy…ʼ [Out of the Blueness of the Sky, the Greenness of the Grass…], Lekkoatletyka [Track and Field], no. 12, 1975, 18–19.16 ʻ100 Years of Women’s Right to Vote in Polandʼ, #Poland, https://poland.pl/history/historical-events/100-years-womens-right-vote-poland/ (accessed June 15, 2022).17 Ibid.18 Quoted in: Metelska, Złota:… [The Golden One:…], 19.19 Szujecki. Sportsmenki… [Sportswomen…], 7.20 ‘Backlash refers here to a political and ideological movement, a response to the threat posed to the hierarchical gender order by feminism: Backlash has been constructed as a residual practice that halts or reverses the quest for equality…’. Gertrud Pfister, ʻWomen in Sport – Gender Relations and Future Perspectivesʼ, Sport in Society 13, no. 2 (2010): 244.21 ʻNasi olimpijczycyʼ [Our Olympians], Bluszcz, no. 33, August 11, 1928, 12.22 ʻTa, która sztandar Polski zawiesiła na maszcie olimpijskim. Żywot i wyczyny Haliny Konopackiejʼ [The One Who Hung Up the Flag of Poland on the Olympic Flagpole. The Life and Feats of Halina Konopacka], Wiadomości Sportowe Gazety Porannej [Sports News of the Morning Newspaper], no. 107, August 4, 1928, 1.23 Konopacka, ʻCo jest treścią wysiłku sportowego. Rekord światowy czy zwycięstwo nad sobą’ [What the Essence of a Sports Effort Is. World Record or Victory over Oneself], Sports Review, no. 34, August 28, 1926, 3.24 Metelska, 46.25 ʻTa, która sztandar Polski zawiesiła…ʼ [The One Who Hung Up…], 1.26 ʻHalina Konopacka wspomina zwycięski dzień na stadionie w Amsterdamieʼ [Halina Konopacka Remembers her Victory Day at the Stadium in Amsterdam], Polskie Radio, 1978, https://polskieradio24.pl/39/156/Artykul/2443359,Halina-Konopacka-i-jej-pierwszy-polski-lekkoatletyczny-rekord-swiata (accessed July 20, 2022).27 Halina Konopacka (1900–1989), http://olimpijski.pl/olimpijczycy/halina-wlasciwie-leonarda-kazimiera-konopacka-matuszewska-szczerbinska/ (accessed March 15, 2022).28 Pfister, ʻWomen in Sport…ʼ, 234.29 Ibid.30 Susan J. Bandy and Anne S. Darden, ʻPreludeʼ, in Crossing Boundaries: An International Anthology of Women’s Experiences in Sport, ed. Bandy, Darden (Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 1999), xii. The authors conclude: ‘A woman is transformed during her journey into an autonomous, whole, and free person, a transformation brought about and fashioned by her own personal experiences’. Konopacka is an exemplar.31 Konopacka, ʻCo jest treścią…ʼ [What the Essence…], 3.32 Kazimiera Muszałówna, ʻDrugie Kobiece Igrzyska Olimpijskieʼ [The Second Women's Olympic Games], Bluszcz, no. 40, October 2, 1926, 1274.33 Howard Fendrich, ʻ1928 Amsterdam: Women’s Track, Gymnastics Debut at Olympicsʼ, The Washington Post, July 29, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/1928-amsterdam-womens-track-gymnastics-debut-at-olympics/2020/07/29/f35dad32-d1ac-11ea-826b-cc394d824e35_story.html (accessed March 15, 2022).34 Kathleen McElroy, ʻSomewhere to Runʼ, in Nike Is a Goddess: The History of Women in Sports, ed. Lissa Smith (New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1998), 6.35 ʻ1928: Amsterdam, Netherlandsʼ, CBC, June 15, 2012, https://www.cbc.ca/sports/2.720/1928-amsterdam-netherlands-1.1173804 (accessed April 8, 2022).36 Daniel Grinberg and Adam Parczewski, Igrzyska Lekkoatletów: Olimpijska Historia Lekkoatletyki 1896–2020. T. 8, Amsterdam 1928 [The Games of Track and Field Athletes: The Olympic History of Track and Field 1896–2020. Vol. 8, Amsterdam 1928] (Warszawa: FNRPS, 2022), 119.37 ʻDzień triumfu Polski w Amsterdamieʼ [The Day of Poland's Amsterdam Triumph], Sports Review, no. 34, August 8, 1928, 5.38 David Wallechinsky, ʻOlympic Films: From the Beginning to Riefenstahl’s Berlin Docudramaʼ, Journal of Olympic History 27, no. 1, 2019: 32.39 ʻDziewiąta Olimpjadaʼ [The Ninth Olympic Games], Illustrated Weekly, no. 32, August 11, 1928, 594.40 ʻ“Jeszcze Polska” w Amsterdamieʼ [“Poland Is Not Yet…” in Amsterdam], Stadjon, no. 33, August 14, 1928, 3.41 ʻWrażenia Haliny Konopackiejʼ [The Impressions of Halina Konopacka], Ibid., 4.42 Muszałówna, Księga olimpijskich wspomnień – fenomen Haliny Konopackiej. O złotej medalistce opowiada dziennikarka Kazimiera Muszałówna [The Book of Olympic Memories – Halina Konopacka. Journalist Kazimiera Muszałówna Talks about the Golden Medalist], Polskie Radio, n.d., https://polskieradio24.pl/39/156/Artykul/2443359,Halina-Konopacka-i-jej-pierwszy-polski-lekkoatletyczny-rekord-swiata (accessed July 20, 2022).43 Pfister, ʻWomen…ʼ, 240.44 Ibid., 241.45 ʻLong Arm Winsʼ, The Daily Alaska Empire, October 5, 1927, 6, https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045499/1927-10-05/ed-1/seq-6/ (accessed June 23, 2022).46 Muszałówna, ʻIgrzyska IX Olimpjady w Amsterdamieʼ [The Games of the IX Olympiad in Amsterdam], Start, no. 16, 1928, 11.47 Quoted in: Rotkiewicz, Z radości… [From the Joy…], 12.48 Mark Dyreson, ʻIcons of Liberty or Objects of Desire? American Women Olympians and the Politics of Consumptionʼ, Journal of Contemporary History 38, no. 3 (2003): 440.49 Ibid., 458.50 McElroy, ʻSomewhere to Runʼ, 8.51 Actor Kazimierz Rudzki remembered, after years, running to buy Sports Review and reading about Konopacka’s triumph. Lis, Tuszyński, Wspomnienia olimpijskie, 28.52 ʻWielkie dni w Amsterdamieʼ [Great Days in Amsterdam], Sports Courier, no. 32 (addition to The Illustrated Everyday Courier, no. 217), August 7, 1928, 2.53 Metelska, 91.54 There were also negative reactions, especially from literary circles. For example, Mieczysław Rytard criticized the growing sports obsession and strengthening of its position at the expense of the cultural needs. See: Rytard, ʻZe sportuʼ [From Sport], Świat [The World], no. 45, 1928, 28–9.55 ʻOstatnie akordy Olimpjadyʼ [Final Chords of the Olympics], Sports Review, no. 36, August 15, 1928, 1.56 ʻWielkie dni…ʼ [Great Days…], 2.57 Ibid., 1.58 ʻOstatnie akordy…ʼ [Final Chords…], 1.59 ʻDepesza Prezydenta do Konopackiejʼ [President's Telegram to Konopacka], Stadjon, no. 32, 1928, 5.60 Quoted in: Rotkiewicz, Z radości… [From the Joy…], 17.61 Ibid., 210.62 Thomas Carlyle, On Heroes, Hero-Worship and the Heroic in History (London: Chapman and Hall, 1840), 17.63 Gertrud Pfister and Ilse Hartmann-Tews, ʻWomen and Sport in Comparative and International Perspectives: Issues, Aims and Theoretical Approachesʼ, in Sport and Women: Social Issues in International Perspective, ed. Pfister and Hartmann-Tews (London: Routledge, 2003), 1.64 Muszałówna, ʻIgrzyska…ʼ [The Games…], 11.65 Jerzy Grabowski, ʻDwa triumfy Polski na Olimpjadzieʼ [Two Triumphs of Poland at the Olympic Games], Sports Review, no. 33, August 5, 1928, 1.66 ʻPo zwycięstwieʼ [After the Victory], 3.67 Jadwiga Wajs-Marcinkiewicz, ʻW ślady Konopackiejʼ [In the Footsteps of Konopacka], in Poczet polskich olimpijczyków. 1924–1984. Paryż’24, Amsterdam’28, Los Angeles’32 [Portrait Gallery of Polish Olympians…] (Warszawa: KAW, 1984), 55.68 Ryszard Wryk, Robert Gawkowski, ʻHistoria na dwa głosyʼ [A Story in Two Voices], in Halina Konopacka. Z radości życia – Wystawa. Katalog wystawy [Halina Konopacka. From the Joy of Life – Exhibition. Exhibition Catalogue], ed. Olga Cygan et al. (Warszawa: POC, 2018), 26.69 ʻPoczątek roku pracyʼ [The Beginning of the Year of Work], Start, no. 16, 1928, 2.70 Metelska, 125.71 Ibid., 131.72 Quoted in: Rotkiewicz, 105.73 Ibid., 251.74 ʻDo czytelniczekʼ [To Readers], Start, no. 12, September 1935, 3.75 Metelska, 209.76 Although mostly associated with discus, Konopackapractised, among others, javelin, high jump or shot put.77 Tadeusz A. Grabowski, ʻMistrzyni dysku i słowaʼ [The Mistress of Discus and the Word], Olympic Discus, no. 3, 1969, 25–26.78 Skamander, notebook 47–48, May–December, 1926, 161.79 ʻDysk i poezjaʼ [Discus and Poetry], Literary News, no. 9, February 28, 1926, 1.80 Stefanja Podhorska-Okołów, ʻZ książekʼ [From the Books], Bluszcz, no. 7, February, 16, 1929, 15.81 Zofia Feigenbaum, ʻKsiążkiʼ [Books], Ewa [Eve], no. 1, 1929.82 Karol Zawodziński, ʻPoezje Konopackiejʼ [Konopacka’s Poetry], Literary News, no. 12, March 24, 1929, 3.83 Anna Nasiłowska, ʻPoetkaʼ [Poetess], in Halina Konopacka. Z radości… [Halina Konopacka. From the Joy…], 34.84 Ibid., 35.85 Jan Lis, Romantyczne olimpiady [Romantic Olympics] (Warszawa: Alfa, 1984), 33.86 Ibid., 59.87 Krzysztof Zuchora, ʻPoetyka sportuʼ [Poetics of Sport], in Halina Konopacka. Z radości… [Halina Konopacka. From the Joy…], 33.88 Maciej Korkuć, ʻPoland Fightingʼ, in A Guide to the History of Poland (Kraków: Legra, 2018).89 ʻ$75,000,000 Polish Gold Saved From Nazis’, New York Times, September 3, 1941, 18.90 Lis, ʻZ błękitu…ʼ [Out of the Blueness…], 18–19.91 Szujecki, Sportsmenki… [Sportswomen…], 188.92 Tony Mason, ʻ “Our Stephen and Our Harold”: Edwardian Footballers as Local Heroesʼ, in European Heroes…, 71.93 Holt, Mangan, ʻPrologue…ʼ, 9.94 Mike McGuinness, ʻThe Canonisation of Common People: Memorialisation and Commemoration in Footballʼ, in Sport, History, and Heritage: Studies in Public Representation, ed. Jeffrey Hill, Kevin Moore, and Jason Wood (Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer, 2012), 213.95 Bohdan Tomaszewski, Pożegnalna defilada [Farewell Parade] (Warszawa: Iskry, 1990), 234.96 Konopacka, ʻTajemnica moich sukcesówʼ [The Mystery of my Successes], Stadjon, no. 51–52, December 21, 1928, 3.97 Lis, Tuszyński, 38.98 Quoted in: Rotkiewicz, 222.99 See: Mazurkiewicz, ‘Motywy sportowe w polskiej sztuce międzywojennej – rekonesans’ [Sports Motifs in Interwar Polish Art – A Reconnaissance], Literatura i Kultura Popularna 22 (2016): 75–89.100 ʻUroczystość odsłonięcia tablicy poświęconej Halinie Konopackiej i płk. dypl. Ignacemu Matuszewskiemu – Warszawa 14 sierpnia 2020ʼ [Ceremony of Unveiling a Plaque Dedicated to Halina Konopacka and Col. Ignacy Matuszewski – Warsaw, August 14, 2020], IPN, https://ipn.gov.pl/pl/aktualnosci/105032,Uroczystosc-odsloniecia-tablicy-poswieconej-Halinie-Konopackiej-i-plk-dypl-Ignac.html (accessed May 15, 2022).101 Nasza Patronka. Halina Konopacka [Our Patroness…] https://www.wskfit.pl/uczelnia/nasza-patronka/ (accessed July 12, 2022).102 ʻHalina Konopackaʼ, Fundacja Lotto, https://www.fundacjalotto.pl/halina-konopacka/ (accessed March 12, 2022).Additional informationNotes on contributorsMichał Mazurkiewicz Michał Mazurkiewicz is an associate professor (PhD habil.) at Jan Kochanowski University in Kielce, Poland. He has published widely on the role of sport and leisure-time activities in history and broadly understood culture, including literature. His work has appeared in many scholarly journals, such as The International Journal of the History of Sport, Sport in History and Journal of African American Studies. His most recent book is Sport w literaturze i kulturze. Konteksty historyczne i współczesne (Sport in Literature and Culture: Historical and Contemporary Contexts) (Jan Kochanowski University Press).