Janina Skirlińska (8 March 1907 – 23 April 1993) was a Polish artistic gymnast who competed at the 1936 Summer Olympics.[1] She was a member of the Polish women's team at those Olympics, where they placed 6th in the team competition.

Janina Skirlińska
Janina Skirlińska in 1932 (wording below emblem on uniform shirt reads "Krakow")
Personal information
Country represented Poland
Born(1907-03-08)8 March 1907
Died23 April 1993(1993-04-23) (aged 86)
DisciplineWomen's artistic gymnastics
Medal record
Representing  Czechoslovakia
World Championships
Bronze medal – third place 1934 Budapest All-Around

At the first-ever World Championships for women in 1934, she was the 3rd-place finisher,[2][3] which stands in extreme contrast to her 40th-place individual result[4][5] at the 1936 Berlin Summer Olympics where her marks in both the compulsory and voluntary segments on 2 of the 3 events contested were extremely low (48th place overall on the parallel bars[4]: 874  and 36th place overall on the vaulting horse[4]: 875  out of a field of 64 competitors), considering her performance at the preceding 1934 World Championships. Her results at those Olympics, in addition to standing in extreme contrast to her results at the 1934 World Championships, also stand in extreme contrast to her results at the second-ever World Championships for women in 1938, where, in the all-around individual standings, she was the 4th-place finisher (out of a field of 32 competitors), the highest-finishing non-Czechoslovakian female competitor at those championships in Prague, Czechoslovakia.[6]

Skirlinska's extreme misfortune at the 1936 Berlin Summer Olympics parallels, with immediately adjacent juxtapositioning, the misfortune of Hungary's Margit Kalocsai, who finished just above Skirlinska, in 2nd place, in the individual standings at the 1934 Worlds,[2] yet just behind her at the 1936 Berlin Olympics in 41st place.[4]: 871 [5] At those Olympics, incidentally, just like Kalocsai, it was Skirlinska’s marks, in both segments of the competition, on both parallel bars and vaulting horse, rather than her relatively good placement on beam (5th for Kalocsai[4]: 870  and 15th for Skirlinska[4]: 874 ), that contributed to her reversal in fortune.

References

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  1. ^ "Janina Skirlińska" Archived 2013-02-04 at the Wayback Machine. sports-reference.com. Retrieved May 28, 2013.
  2. ^ a b Macanovic, Hrvoje (June 8, 1934). "X medunarodne gimnastičke utakmice u Budimpešti" [X International Gymnastics Matches in Budapest.]. Sokolsky Glasnik (in Slovenian). Vol. 5, no. 24. p. 6. Retrieved May 2, 2023.
  3. ^ "1934 World Gymnastics Championships Results" (PDF). Usagym.org. USA Gymnastics. Retrieved May 2, 2023.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Organizing Committee for the 11th Berlin Olympiad. "The XIth Olympic Games Berlin, 1936 Official Report (Volume II)". pp. 874–875. Retrieved 2 May 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  5. ^ a b "1936 Olympic Games Women's Team Results". Gymn-Forum.net. 17 February 2008. Retrieved May 2, 2023.
  6. ^ "Ceskoslovensko dobyva mistrovstvi sveta v telocviku" [Czechoslovakia Conquers the World Championships in Gymnastics]. Venkov (in Czech). July 2, 1938. Retrieved December 21, 2020.