Oto Grigalka, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death
TweetOto Grigalka
Latvian athletics competitor (1925-1993)
Date of Birth: 
Place of Birth: Madona, Madona Municipality, Latvia
About Oto Grigalka
- Oto Yanovich Grigalka (Russian: ???? ?????? ????????; 28 June 1925 – 8 February 1993) was a Latvian track and field athlete who competed in the shot put and discus throw.
- He represented the Soviet Union at the Summer Olympics in 1952 and 1956.
- He placed fourth in the shot put and sixth in the discus in 1950, then came fifth at the 1954 Olympic discus competition.Grigalka was twice a medallist for the Soviet Union at the European Athletics Championships, taking shot put bronze in 1950, then the shot put silver in 1954.
- He also competed in the discus at the latter edition, placing sixth.
- He was highly successful as a student-athlete at the World Festival of Youth and Students, taking three consecutive shot put silver medals before winning the gold medal in 1955.At national level he was a seven-time winner at the Soviet Athletics Championships, taking three straight shot put titles from 1952 to 1954 and going undefeated in the discus throw from 1953 to 1956.
- During his career he was a member of the Dynamo Moscow sports club and was trained by Leonids Mitropolskis.
- He later went into coaching and was throws coach to the 1964 Olympic Soviet team.His personal bests were 17.20 m (56 ft 5 in) for the shot put (achieved during his 1954 European silver medal performance) and 56.94 m (186 ft 9 1/2 in), achieved in Kharkov in 1958.
- He was highly ranked in the discus throw during the latter part of his career, placing third on the world seasonal lists for the event in 1955 and 1958.
- His best yearly placing in the shot put was fifth, which he achieved in both 1951 and 1954.He was born and died in Saikava, a small village in Latvia's Madona Municipality.
- He married a fellow Soviet track athlete, Mariya Pisareva who won an Olympic high jump medal.
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