Jozef GRUDZIEN

Polish boxer Józef Grudzień won the gold medal in the lightweight class in 1964 against Vilikton Barannikov from the Soviet Union. The final between Grudzień and Barannikov was closely fought but the Russian, the more aggressive of the two, was continually backed up by the left jab of the Pole, who won a unanimous decision. Grudzień was runner-up at the 1965 European Championships, and won the European championships in 1967. He returned to the Olympic Games in 1968 where he lost against US-boxer Ronnie Harris in the final. Coincidentally he beat a different US boxer named Ronnie Harris in the semi-final in Tokyo.

By profession, Grudzień was an officer in the Polish Army and later worked as a constructor within a Warsaw-based company. In 2015 he appeared as himself in the Polish boxing documentary, “Ring Free.” He was awarded the Olympic Order in silver in 1985, and was also given the 1991 Aleksander Reksza Boxing Award. In 1998 he was awarded the Knight's Cross and Commander's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta. Grudzień died in June 2017 at age 78.