Barbara Sobotta

Barbara Sobotta-Janiszewska

Personal information
Nationality	Polish
Born	Barbara Lerczak (1936-12-06)6 December 1936 Poznań, Poland
Died	20 November 2000(2000-11-20) (aged 63) Kraków, Poland
Life partner	Jan Nowicki (1970–1974/1975)
Sport
Sport	Sprinting
Events	100 metres 200 metres
College team	AZS Poznań
Club	AZS Poznań
Medal record Women's athletics Representing  Poland Olympic Games 1960 Rome 4×100 m European Championships 1958 Stockholm 200 m 1962 Belgrade 4×100 m 1958 Stockholm 4×100 m 1962 Belgrade 200 m Universiade 1961 Sofia 200 m

Barbara Sobotta-Janiszewska, née Barbara Lerczak, (December 4, 1936 – November 20, 2000) was a Polish athlete who mainly competed in the women's sprint events during her career.

In 1958 in Stockholm, she won the European Championships 200 metres race (as Maria Leontyavna Itkina won the bronze medal).^[1]

She competed for Poland at the 1960 Summer Olympics held in Rome, Italy where she won the bronze medal in the women's 4 × 100 metres with her teammates Teresa Wieczorek, Celina Jesionowska and Halina Richter.

Personal life

Her first husband was Piotr Sobotta, a high jumper. She was later in informal relationship with Jan Nowicki, with whom she later had a son, Łukasz Nowicki, an actor and television presenter. After 4–5 years, Jan Nowicki broke up with Barbara for Irena Paszyn.^[2] Later she married the pole vaulter Zbigniew Janiszewski.

International competitions

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Event	Notes
Representing Poland
1954	World Student Games	Budapest, Hungary	3rd	4 × 100 m relay	47.4
	European Championships	Bern, Switzerland	9th (sf)	100 m	12.2
			4th	200 m	24.4
			5th	4 × 100 m relay	47.1
1955	World Festival of Youth and Students	Warsaw, Poland	3rd	4 × 100 m relay	47.4
1956	Olympic Games	Melbourne, Australia	21st (h)	100 m	12.37
			11th (sf)	200 m	25.12
			8th (h)	4 × 100 m relay	46.58
1958	European Championships	Stockholm, Sweden	11th (sf)	100 m	12.1
			1st	200 m	24.1
			3rd	4 × 100 m relay	46.0
1959	Universiade	Turin, Italy	4th	100 m	12.2
			2nd	200 m	24.2
			6th	4 × 100 m relay	49.2
1960	Olympic Games	Rome, Italy	5th	200 m	24.96
			3rd	4 × 100 m relay	45.19
1961	Universiade	Sofia, Bulgaria	1st	200 m	24.44
			2nd	4 × 100 m relay	47.6
1962	European Championships	Belgrade, Yugoslavia	3rd	200 m	23.9
			1st	4 × 100 m relay	44.5
1964	Olympic Games	Tokyo, Japan	19th (qf)	100 m	11.8
			6th	200 m	23.97

Additional images

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  Commemorative plaque outside Barbara Sobotta's family home at 41a Wierzbięcice Street in Poznań

References

• Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Barbara Lerczak-Janiszewska-Sobotta". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2020-04-18.