Wojciech Fortuna wins Poland's first Winter Olympic gold in Sapporo

On 4 February 1972, at the Winter Olympics in Sapporo, Japan, Polish ski jumper Wojciech Fortuna won the normal hill event. He was 19 years old and had arrived in Japan as an outsider, far from the favourites for the title.

Fortuna produced a jump of 111 metres in the first round, which put him in a leading position on the Miyanomori hill. He held his advantage in the second round and finished ahead of Switzerland's Walter Steiner, who took silver, and East Germany's Rainer Schmidt, who took bronze.

The victory mattered far beyond the sport. Poland had competed at Winter Olympics since 1924 but had never won gold, and until then its best results had come in individual medals of lower rank. Fortuna's win made him a national hero and a symbol of Polish winter sport, years before Adam Małysz brought ski jumping a mass following in the country. His success is still remembered as one of the great surprises in Olympic ski jumping history.