Robert Maćkowiak (born May 30, 1970 in Rawicz

Rawicz

Rawicz is a town in central Poland with 21,398 inhabitants . It is situated in the Greater Poland Voivodeship ; previously it was in Leszno Voivodeship . It is the capital of Rawicz County.-History:...

, Wielkopolskie) is a Polish

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

 sprinter

Sprint (race)

Sprints are short running events in athletics and track and field. Races over short distances are among the oldest running competitions. The first 13 editions of the Ancient Olympic Games featured only one event—the stadion race, which was a race from one end of the stadium to the other...

. Together with Tomasz Czubak

Tomasz Czubak

Tomasz Czubak is a former 400 metres runner from Poland. He won a silver medal in 4 x 400 metres relay at the 1998 European Championships and the 1999 World Championships in Athletics. Running in the 1999 individual contest, he set a personal best and a national record, with 44.62-External links:...

, Jacek Bocian and Piotr Haczek

Piotr Haczek

Piotr Haczek is a Polish athlete who mainly competed in the 400 metres. An outdoor and indoor world champion in the 4 x 400 metres relay, his success came mainly in relay, his best individual performance being a gold medal at the 1999 European Under 23 Championships.-Personal bests:*100 metres -...

 he won the gold medal in 4 x 400 metres relay at the 1999 World Championships in Athletics

1999 World Championships in Athletics

The 7th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held at the Estadio Olímpico, Seville, Spain, between the August 20 and August 29....

. Maćkowiak has also won other relay medals as well as individual medals in the 200 metres

200 metres

A 200 metres race is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 m track, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques are needed to successfully run the race. A slightly shorter race, called the stadion and run on a straight track, was the first...

 and 400 metres.

He belonged to the most famous and successful Polish relay team in the 1990s together with Tomasz Czubak

Tomasz Czubak

Tomasz Czubak is a former 400 metres runner from Poland. He won a silver medal in 4 x 400 metres relay at the 1998 European Championships and the 1999 World Championships in Athletics. Running in the 1999 individual contest, he set a personal best and a national record, with 44.62-External links:...

, Piotr Haczek

Piotr Haczek

Piotr Haczek is a Polish athlete who mainly competed in the 400 metres. An outdoor and indoor world champion in the 4 x 400 metres relay, his success came mainly in relay, his best individual performance being a gold medal at the 1999 European Under 23 Championships.-Personal bests:*100 metres -...

 and Piotr Rysiukiewicz

Piotr Rysiukiewicz

Piotr Grzegorz Rysiukiewicz is a Polish sprinter who has won various medals for the Polish 4 x 400 metres relay team. He was a member of the best Polish relay 4 x 400 in the 1990s...

. Unfortunately, numerous injuries prevented them from joining the best relays of all time. The worst disaster happened in the Olympic Games in Sydney

Athletics at the 2000 Summer Olympics

At the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, 46 events in athletics were contested, 24 for men and 22 for women. There were a total number of 2134 participating athletes from 193 countries.-Men's events:...

. The Polish team was one of the favourites to win a medal (after unstoppable U.S.

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 really there were two main rivals: Jamaica

Jamaica

Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...

 and Bahamas). On the second leg (on the first ran Rysiukiewicz) Maćkowiak was leading, but he ran into a starting box (Polish team ran on the eighth lane) and Poland lost their medal chances. The relay finished seventh in the competition. Maćkowiak also competed in the individual race in which he finished fifth.

Maćkowiak was also one of the favourites in the World Championships in Edmonton 2001

2001 World Championships in Athletics

The 8th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held at the Commonwealth Stadium, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada between 3 August and 12 August and was the first time the event had visited North America...

). His main rival was German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 runner Ingo Schultz

Ingo Schultz

Ingo Schultz is a German sprinter who specializes in the 400 metres.-Career:Schultz took up athletics in 1997, and ran his first 400 metres race in 1998, clocking in 49.45 seconds. The next season he lowered his time to 45.99 s....

 who had best times in qualification runs. Maćkowiak was a candidate for silver but he got an injury a few days before final and he lost all medal chances. He also didn't start in the relay run which took place a few days after individual start.

Officially retired at the end of 2006 season.

Achievements

Representing
1998	European Indoor Championships 1998 European Indoor Athletics Championships The 25th European Athletics Indoor Championships were held from Friday, 27 February to Sunday, 1 March 1998 at the Palace of Luis Puig, Valencia, Spain.-Men:-Women:-Medal table:-External links:* - Athletix...	Valencia Valencia (city in Spain) Valencia or València is the capital and most populous city of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third largest city in Spain, with a population of 809,267 in 2010. It is the 15th-most populous municipality in the European Union... , Spain Spain Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...	3rd	400 metres
	European Championships 1998 European Championships in Athletics The 17th European Athletics Championships were held from 18 August to 23 August 1998 in Budapest, the capital city of Hungary.-Track:1990 |1994 |1998 |2002 |2006 |-Field:1990 |1994 |1998 |2002 |2006 |-Track:1990 |1994 |1998 |2002 |2006 |-Field:...	Budapest Budapest Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter... , Hungary Hungary Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...	2nd	400 metres
			2nd	4x400m relay
1999	World Indoor Championships 1999 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 7th IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics were held in the Green Dome Maebashi stadium in Maebashi, Japan from March 5 to March 7, 1999. It was the first time the Championships were staged outside Europe or North America. Primo Nebiolo, president of the IAAF, characterized the...	Maebashi Maebashi, Gunma is the capital city of Gunma Prefecture, Japan.The city was founded on April 1, 1892, by the samurai Makuba Kawai.On December 5, 2004 the town of Ōgo, and the villages of Kasukawa and Miyagi, all from Seta District, were merged into Maebashi.... , Japan Japan Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...	2nd	4x400m relay
	World Championships 1999 World Championships in Athletics The 7th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held at the Estadio Olímpico, Seville, Spain, between the August 20 and August 29....	Seville Seville Seville is the artistic, historic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of the autonomous community of Andalusia and of the province of Seville. It is situated on the plain of the River Guadalquivir, with an average elevation of above sea level... , Spain Spain Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...	1st	4x400m relay
2000	Olympic Games Athletics at the 2000 Summer Olympics At the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, 46 events in athletics were contested, 24 for men and 22 for women. There were a total number of 2134 participating athletes from 193 countries.-Men's events:...	Sydney Sydney Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people... , Australia Australia Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...	5th	400 m
			7th	4x400m relay
2001	World Indoor Championships 2001 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 8th IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics were held at the Pavilhão Atlântico in Lisbon, Portugal from March 9 to March 11 2001. It was the first time the Championships had been held in Portugal...	Lisbon Lisbon Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban... , Portugal Portugal Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...	1st	4x400m relay
2002	European Indoor Championships	Vienna Vienna Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre... , Austria Austria Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...	3rd	200 metres
			1st	4x400m relay
2005	World Championships 2005 World Championships in Athletics The 10th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations , were held in the Olympic Stadium, Helsinki, Finland , the site of the first IAAF World Championships in 1983. One theme of the 2005 championships was paralympic sports, some of...	Helsinki, Finland	5th	4x400m relay 2005 World Championships in Athletics - Men's 4 x 400 metres relay The 4 x 400 metre relay at the 2005 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Helsinki Olympic Stadium on August 13 and August 14.-Medals:-Qualifying:...