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Ewa Kłobukowska

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Ewa Kłobukowska
Ewa Kłobukowska c. 1967
Personal information
NationalityPolish
Born1 October 1946 (1946-10) (age 78)
Warsaw, Poland
Height1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Weight60 kg (132 lb)
Sport
SportAthletics
EventSprint
ClubSkra Warszawa
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)100 m – 11.1 (1965)
200 m – 22.9 (1967)[1]
Medal record
Representing  Poland
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 1964 Tokyo 4×100 m relay
Bronze medal – third place 1964 Tokyo 100 m
European Championships
Gold medal – first place 1966 Budapest 4×100 m relay
Gold medal – first place 1966 Budapest 100 m
Silver medal – second place 1966 Budapest 200 m

Ewa Janina Kłobukowska (born 1 October 1946) is a Polish former sprinter. She competed at the 1964 Olympics in the 4×100 m relay and 100 m sprint and won a gold and a bronze medal, respectively.[2] She also won two gold and one silver medal at the 1966 European Athletics Championships. Kłobukowska set three world records, one in the 100 m (11.1 s, 9 July 1965 in Prague) and two in the 4×100 m relay (44.2 s, 13 September 1964, Łódź and 43.6 s, 21 October 1964, Tokyo).

Kłobukowska was at one point considered to be the fastest woman in the world. The American Press made a statement, saying that nobody would beat Kłobukowska for the next 7–8 years following a race in Prague.[3] Despite these successes and laurels, her records were annulled by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) after a sex identification test in 1967 wrongly labeled her as not female.[4] The test procedures were later determined to be inadequate.[5][6]

Personal life

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Kłobukowska was born into a family of intellectuals. Her parents did not support Kłobukowska being involved in sports, however, she stood her ground.[7] In 1965, she graduated from a Technical School of Economics No. 6 and in 1972 from the SGH Warsaw School of Economics.[5] She went on to work for a steel construction company called Energomontaż-Północ Gdynia.[8] She then worked as an accountant in a Polish company in Czechoslovakia.[9]

The sex test used for European Cup women's track and field competition in Kyiv in 1967 wrongly identified her as not female, and Kłobukowska was subsequently banned from competing in professional sports.[10] This was surprising considering she passed the anatomical sex test a year prior to this competition.[11] A year later, in 1968, she became pregnant and gave birth to a son.[12]

According to the IAAF, she had "one chromosome too many", likely referring to detection of a Y chromosome in some of her cells.[11] However, if she had been tested one year later at the Mexico Olympics, she would have been eligible on the grounds that she was Barr body (inactive X-chromosome) positive, having a Barr body in each of her cells.[13][14] The Polish Olympic Committee has stated that athletic federations from the Soviet Union and East Germany targeted Kłobukowska for sporting reasons.[15] Kłobukowska's humiliation led to a change in the sex verification policies by the International Olympic Committee, which from then on kept test results secret.[16]

The IAAF erased the three world records set by Kłobukowska, including the two team records in the 4×100 m relay.[5][17] Even now, there are only a few articles on Kłobukowska because of the erasure of her accomplishments.[3] Kłobukowska is not often seen in the public eye because of the controversy.[18] The reasoning behind this is that it has taken a significant toll on her mental health, almost resulting in suicide.[3] As of 2017, she had still received no formal apology.[18]

Honours

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ Ewa Klobukowska. trackfield.brinkster.net
  2. ^ Ewa Kłobukowska. sports-reference.com
  3. ^ a b c "Ewa Kłobukowska – Skrzywdzona Mistrzyni". Dzieje,pl. July 2015.
  4. ^ Wallechinsky, David (2012). The Book of Olympic Lists. Aurum Press. p. 19. ISBN 978-1845137731.
  5. ^ a b c "Kłobukowska Ewa". Polish Olympic Committee
  6. ^ Ritchie, R.; Reynard, J.; Lewis, T. (2008). "Intersex and the Olympic Games". Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. 101 (8): 395–9. doi:10.1258/jrsm.2008.080086. PMC 2500237. PMID 18687862.
  7. ^ "75 lat temu urodziła się Ewa Kłobukowska". PR24.PL (in Polish). 1 October 2021. Retrieved 14 August 2024.
  8. ^ "Ewa Klobukowska". Olympics.
  9. ^ Kazimierczak, Rafał (July 2021). "'Zostanie wycofana pod pozorem ciężkiej kontuzji'. Jak zniszczono Ewę Kłobukowską" ['She will be withdrawn under the pretext of a serious injury'. How Ewa Kłobukowska was destroyed]. EUROSPORT (in Polish).
  10. ^ Ferguson-Smith, M. A.; Ferris, E. A. (1991). "Gender verification in sport: The need for change?". British Journal of Sports Medicine. 25 (1): 17–20. doi:10.1136/bjsm.25.1.17. PMC 1478807. PMID 1817477.
  11. ^ a b Thomas, Katie (July 2008). "A Lab Whose Job is to Run Gender Tests on Women: [Sports Desk]". ProQuest. ProQuest 433882174.
  12. ^ "Tarnished gold: Some of the 'great' Olympics cheats". The Independent. August 2012.
  13. ^ Pieper, Lindsay Parks (2016). Sex Testing: Gender Policing in Women's Sports. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-04022-1. JSTOR 10.5406/j.ctt18j8xsf.
  14. ^ Rogol, Alan D.; Pieper, Lindsay Parks (2018). "The Interconnected Histories of Endocrinology and Eligibility in Women's Sport". Hormone Research in Paediatrics. 90 (4): 213–220. doi:10.1159/000493646. ISSN 1663-2818. PMID 30336491. S2CID 53012578.
  15. ^ Zuchowicz, Katarzyna (13 August 2024). "Hejterzy powinni ją poznać. Oto polska olimpijka, której podważono płeć i złamano karierę" [Haters should get to know her. Here is the Polish Olympian whose gender was questioned and career was ruined]. naTemat.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 14 August 2024.
  16. ^ Schultz, Jaime (2012). "Disciplining Sex: 'Gender Verification' Policies and Women's Sports". In Helen Jefferson Lenskyj (ed.). The Palgrave Handbook of Olympic Studies. Stephen Wagg. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 443–60. ISBN 9780230367463. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  17. ^ "Athletics at the 1964 Tokyo Summer Games: Women's 4 × 100 metres Relay". sports-reference.com
  18. ^ a b Bartosiak, Kacper (August 2017). "'Nie jesteś kobietą'. Kto skrzywdził Kłobukowską?" ['You are not a woman'. Who hurt Kłobukowska?]. TVPSPORT (in Polish).
  19. ^ "M.P. 1999 nr 6 poz. 68". isap.sejm.gov.pl. Retrieved 31 March 2024.
  20. ^ "M.P. 2012 poz. 230". isap.sejm.gov.pl. Retrieved 31 March 2024.
  21. ^ "M.P. 2021 poz. 867". isap.sejm.gov.pl. Retrieved 31 March 2024.
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