THE UNSPORTSMANLIKE GESTURE OF KOZAKEVICH AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE IN THE DOMESTIC POLITICS OF POLAND AND IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

Abstract

There are two political gestures in Poland that everyone knows. The first one is a two-finger, that is a V-shaped gesture that has been known since «Solidarity». The second most notable in the history of Polish sports is the Kozakevich gesture, demonstrated by an athlete at the 1980 Moscow Olympics. During the Cold War, athletes from many countries of the world perceived athletes the USSR not only as their rivals in competitions but also as political, ideological, and cultural foes. Therefore, the gesture in the V. Kozakiewicz half-arm of the famous Polish jumper with the pole, which he showed to fans and judges at the stadium in Luzhniki, led to the uplift of the national spirit in Poland and became a symbol of liberation from the communist regime. The authorities of the USSR and socialist Poland made no public announcement of the gesture or the history around it. The political reaction of the top party leadership of the USSR to the gesture of the Polish athlete disproved the slogan «Sport outside politics», which was actively manipulated in the international arena. The author of the article tries to rethink the meaning of Kozakevich‟s gesture in contemporary socio-political conditions, so he draws attention first of all to: 1) the political context of Kozakevich‟s nominal «gesture»; 2) the reaction of the authorities of the USSR and Poland on the performance of the athlete; 3) the use of gesture as a symbol in the internal political struggle in the People‟s Republic of Poland and against the USSR;   4)   political   harassment   of   V.   Kozakevich   as   a   famous athlete; 5) V. Kozakevich‟s use of the history of his gesture to create a personal image in his own election campaign; 6) the use of the phrase «Kozakevich‟s gesture» in the modern Polish press and its meaning. It has been proved that Kozakevich‟s gesture has transformed from a personal into a political, national and international gesture, becoming universal in Polish journalism.