Bishop Dolegiewicz

Bishop Dolegiewicz
Medal record
Men's athletics
Representing  Canada
Commonwealth Games
Bronze medal – third place 1978 Edmonton Shot put
Bronze medal – third place 1982 Brisbane Discus
Pan American Games
Silver medal – second place 1975 Mexico City Shot put
Silver medal – second place 1979 San Juan Shot put
Universiade
Gold medal – first place 1975 Rome Shot put

Zbigniew "Bishop" Dolegiewicz (July 8, 1953 – October 29, 2008) was a Canadian professional track and field athlete and coach who specialized in the shot put and the discus throw.

A tall and muscular athlete, he won All-American honours while at the University of Texas and was the 1975 World University champion in the shot put. A silver medal at the 1975 Pan American Games was followed by his first Olympic appearance at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. He won a Commonwealth Games bronze on home turf in 1978 and also set a Canadian record of 20.83 m in the shot put that year.

He won a second Pan American medal in 1979 and began competing in the World's Strongest Man competition, highlighted by a fourth-place finish in 1980. He represented Canada at the first World Championships in Athletics in 1983, competing in the qualifying stage, and finished eleventh in the shot put final at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles – the best finish by a Canadian at the time. He retired in 1985 and moved into coaching, training throwers at the University of Saskatchewan and Southern Utah University.

A steroid user during much of his career, Dolegiewicz testified at the Dubin Inquiry in 1989, revealing that he had taken and distributed Dianabol. He sold the drug to Charlie Francis in 1981, who acquired it for his trainee Ben Johnson (the athlete whose failed test sparked the inquiry). Dolegiewicz also stated that he believed steroid use was so widespread in the throwing events that he could not name an individual who had not taken the drug. The comments to the governmental commission resulted in the loss of his Canadian shot record and his dismissal from his post at the University of Saskatchewan. He died in 2008 at the age of 55.


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