Halina Konopacka (1900-1989)

Unknown Biography

A sports journalist, Maciej Petruczenko, told about her, "Physical education was in the genes." Halina told about herself in one of the archival statements that "It started with a passion for movement, a passion for nature". When she was only 8 years old, her family moved to Warsaw. Then young Halinka started visiting the Garden of Games and Movement Games on Agrykola. In addition, the girl loved to swim in the Vistula, rode on roller skates and ice skating in the Swiss Valley. Undoubtedly, these activities contributed to her physical development. She actually began her career when she grew up - with the beginning of her studies at the Faculty of Philology at the University of Warsaw. It soon turned out that she was a gifted skier, who was almost never going down from the Tatra slopes. In addition, she played basketball and handball, rode horses, and was passionate about motoring. After finishing her athletic career, she played tennis in a mix with Czesław Spychała. Sport commentators gave her the nickname 'Czerbieta' (a combination of the words 'red woman', in Polish ‘czerwona kobieta’), as she usually appeared in red. Halina was quickly noticed by a Frenchman - Maurice Baquet, because she was tall and well-built, she had the talent for throwing the discus. It was this French who decided to include her in the Olympic team. In 1924 Konopacka already won the first championship title. Her athletic career ended in the 1930s. Then she began to play tennis not only on a national but also international scale. For a year she was also the editor-in-chief of the "Start" magazine. When World War II broke out, Colonel Ignacy Matuszewski - a diplomat, politician, former Treasury Minister, privately married to Konopacka - was ordered to evacuate gold from the treasury of the Bank of Poland. Czerbieta, as an avid motorist, sat by the wheel of a bus carrying gold. After this event, Konopacka was called "Double Golden". During the occupation escape, Halina and her husband were arrested and, after being in prison, in September 1941, they reached New York.