Halina Konopacka (1900-1989)
Biography
Halina Konopacka was born on 26th February, 1900 in Rawa Mazowiecka. She grew up in wealthy, middle-class home , surrounded by the love of her parents Jakub and Marianna Raszkiewicz. She was a great student and sportswoman.
During studies at the Faculty of Philology at the University of Warsaw she went to the athletics section of AZS Warsaw. At that time she did not involve the future with sport. In 1923 she was noticed by French coach Maurice Baquet. He encouraged her to begin a professional career. Konopacka cultivated discus and javelin throws, shot put and also high and long jumps. A year later for the first time in her life she became a champion in two disciplines – discus throws and shot put. Few years later she set up her first, debut world record in discus throws. She managed to throw the disc to 34,15 meters. Throughout her whole career she has won 27 titles of the polish champion in various athletics disciplines.
On 31 July, 1928 in Amsterdam, by winning the discus competition, she also gained first golden medal for Poland in history of Olympic Games. She threw the disc to 39,62 meters and established a new world record. During the same Olympics, the journalists announced Halina Konopacka as Miss of the whole event. Every time our champion was on the stadium, the audience went crazy with delight. Up to the end of her career, she was never beaten in any of the remaining discus competitions.
In her happiest year, in 1928 Halina Konopacka married Colonel Ignacy Matuszewski, a diplomat, head of the division of the Second General Staff of the Polish Army and at the same time Minister of the Treasury of the Second Polish Republic.
In 1931, Halina Konopacka ended her professional sports career. She devoted herself to art. She had already written many poems and painted pictures, but this year it became sense of her life. Her works were often published in interwar period in well-known magazines such as „Wiadomości Litrerackie” and “Skamander”.
In September 1939 she accompanied her husband during the evacuation of the gold of the Polish Bank, which he organized. She was one of the drivers, driving trucks with a national Polish treasure on the route from Poland through Romania to the Black Sea and later to France. After the occupation of France by Germany, she had to move. She came to Spain, from where she came to the United States. She lived there for the rest of her life.
After the death of Ignacy Matuszewski in 1946, she remarried. Her second beloved was Jerzy Serwiński, who died in 1959. After this traumatic experience, she moved to Florida. There, she continued to develop her artistic talents. She mainly painted pictures of flowers.
After the war, she visited Poland only three times in 1958, 1970 and 1975, but her heart still beat for our country. She was also honored with Golden Cross of Merit in 1929, the Silver Medal of the Order of Merit of the PRL in 1978, on the 50th anniversary of the Olympic victory, the Knight’s Cross of the Order of the Rebirth of Poland in 1989.
She died on January 28, 1989 in Daytona Beach, Florida. The urn with her ashes came back to her beloved Poland. As her wish, the urn on 18 October, 1990 rested at the Bródowski Cemetery of Warsaw. After many decades, the memories about the First Golden Polish Lady comes back. For us, she is the model of versatility worth imitating by modern youth.