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Jerzy Kulej
Jerzy Kulej 2.jpg
Jerzy Kulej in 2011
Personal information
Born (1940-10-19)19 October 1940
Częstochowa, Śląskie, Poland
Died 13 July 2012(2012-07-13) (aged 71)
Warsaw, Poland
Height 1.67 m (5 ft 6 in)
Weight 66 kg (146 lb)
Sport
Sport Boxing
Weight class Light welterweight
Club Start Częstochowa
Gwardia Warszawa
Medal record
Men's boxing
Representing  Poland
Olympic Games
Gold 1964 Tokyo Light welterweight
Gold 1968 Mexico City Light welterweight
European Amateur Championships
Gold 1963 Moscow Light welterweight
Gold 1965 East Berlin Light welterweight
Silver 1967 Rome Light welterweight
Jerzy Kulej medal & autograph
Copy of J. Kulej medal and autograph in Sports Star Avenue in Dziwnów
Jerzy Kulej 1971 Ajman stamp
Jerzy Kulej featured on a 1971 stamp

Jerzy Zdzisław Kulej (Polish: [ˈjɛʐɨ ˈkulɛj]; 19 October 1940 – 13 July 2012) was a Polish boxer, politician and sports commentator. He was a two-time Olympic and two-time European Champion.

Life and career

He was born in 1940 in Częstochowa, Poland. He started his boxing career in 1955 in the Start Częstochowa club. In 1958, he joined Poland's national team coached by Feliks Stamm. At the 1964 Summer Olympics, he won a gold medal in the light welterweight division (<63.5 kg) defeating Yevgeny Frolov. In 1968, he defended his title in a close match against a Cuban boxer Enrique Regüeiferos becoming the only Polish boxer to ever win two Olympic gold medals. He also twice won a gold medal at the European Amateur Championships in 1963 and 1965, and won a silver medal in 1967. He had a record of 317 wins, 6 draws and 25 losses.

In 1976, he made an appearance in a movie Przepraszam, czy tu biją? directed by Marek Piwowski. In 1995, he received the Aleksander Reksza Boxing Award.

In 1998, he was awarded the Commander's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta by President Aleksander Kwaśniewski for his "outstanding contributions to the Olympic movement, the development and popularization of physical culture as well as sporting achievements".

In his later years, he became a politician representing various parties over the time. In 2001, as a member of Democratic Left Alliance for electoral district of Warsaw he became a member of the Polish parliament (the Sejm) and served to 2005. He was a boxing commentator for Polish TV station Polsat Sport.

Death

In December 2011, he suffered a massive heart attack. While in recovery, he learned that he suffered from an eye melanoma that was, in the end, the direct cause of his death in Warsaw on 13 July 2012 at the age of 71. He was buried on 20 July at the Powązki Military Cemetery in Warsaw.

Olympic results

1964 - Tokyo

  • Round of 64 – bye
  • Round of 32 – Defeated Roberto Amaya (Argentina) by decision, 5–0
  • Round of 16 – Defeated Richard McTaggart (Great Britain) by decision, 4–1
  • Quarterfinal – Defeated Iosif Mihalic (Romania) by decision, 4–1
  • Semifinal – Defeated Eddie Blay (Ghana) by decision, 5–0
  • Final – Defeated Yevgeny Frolov (Soviet Union) by decision, 5–0

1968 - Mexico City

  • Round of 64 – bye
  • Round of 32 – Defeated János Kajdi (Hungary) by decision, 3–2
  • Round of 16 – Defeated Giambattista Capretti (Italy) by decision, 4–1
  • Quarterfinals – Defeated Peter Tiepold (East Germany) by decision, 3–2
  • Semifinals – Defeated Arto Nilsson (Finland) by decision, 5–0
  • Final – Defeated Enrique Requeiferos (Cuba) by decision, 3–2

See also

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