Andrzej Badeński

Andrzej Badeński

File:Andrzej Badeński 1968.jpg Andrzej Badeński at the 1968 Olympics
Personal information
Born	10 May 1943 Warsaw, Poland
Died	28 September 2008 (aged 65) Wiesbaden, Germany
Height	1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Weight	68 kg (150 lb)
Sport
Sport	Sprint running
Club	Legia Warszawa
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)	400 m – 45.42 (1968)
Medal record Representing Poland Olympic Games Tokyo 1964 400 m European Championships 1966 Budapest 4×400 m relay 1966 Budapest 400 m 1971 Helsinki 4×400 m relay European Indoor Championships 1968 Madrid 400 m 1968 Madrid 4×364 m relay 1969 Belgrade 4×390 m relay 1969 Belgrade Medley relay 1971 Sofia 400 m 1971 Sofia 4×400 m relay 1972 Grenoble 4×400 m relay 1970 Vienna 400 m 1970 Vienna 4×400 m relay

Andrzej Badenski (10 May 1943 – 28 September 2008) was a Polish sprinter who specialized in the 400 metres. He won a bronze medal at the 1964 Summer Olympics, and became European Indoor Champion in 1968 and in 1971.

Career

Badenski was born in Warsaw and represented the club Legia Warszawa. At the 1962 European Championships he finished sixth in the 400 metres. He did however win few international accolades before winning the bronze medal in the 400 metres at the 1964 Olympic Games. At the same Olympics he finished sixth in the 4×400 metres relay together with the Polish team. At the 1966 European Championships he won a silver medal in the 400 metres, only behind Stanislaw Gredzinski, and won the 4×400 metres relay together with Jan Werner, Edmund Borowski and Stanislaw Gredzinski.

After this, his greatest success would come in the regional indoor championships. At the 1967 European Indoor Games he competed in the relay final, but the team did not finish, and at the 1968 European Indoor Games he won a gold medal in the relay. He also won the individual distance at the 1968 European Indoor Games, and two relay gold medals at the 1969 European Indoor Games.

His second Olympic Games were in 1968. He finished seventh in the 400 metres. In the 4×400 metres relay he finished fourth together with Stanislaw Gredzinski, Jan Balachowski and Jan Werner. With the same team members he finished fourth in the relay at the 1969 European Championships. In the individual distance he finished sixth. At the 1970 European Indoor Championships he won two silver medals; in the individual distance as well as in relay. At the 1971 European Indoor Championships he won gold medals in both these events, the latter together with Waldemar Korycki, Jan Werner and Jan Balachowski. With the same team members he won a silver medal in the relay at the 1971 European Championships and a gold medal at the 1972 European Indoor Championships. At the 1972 Olympic Games he reached the semi-final in the 400 metres and finished fifth in the relay.

He became Polish 400 metres champion in 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965 and 1967, and in 1971 he became American indoor champion in the 600 yards event. His personal best time in the 400 metres was 45.42 seconds, achieved in 1968. At the end of his career in 1974 he defected to the West and lived in Germany until his death. He died near Wiesbaden in September 2008.