Katarzyna Juszczak

Katarzyna Juszczak
Personal information
Full name Katarzyna Juszczak
Nationality  Poland
 Italy
Born (1972-03-04) 4 March 1972
Wrocław, Poland
Height 1.72 m (5 ft 7 1⁄2 in)
Weight 72 kg (159 lb)
Sport
Sport Wrestling
Style Freestyle
Club AZS-AWF Wrocław (POL)
Lotta Messina (ITA)[1]
Coach Francesco Costa (ITA)[1]

Katarzyna Juszczak (born March 4, 1972 in Wrocław) is a retired amateur Polish-Italian judoka and freestyle wrestler, who competed in the women's heavyweight category.[2] She achieved top eight finishes in the 72-kg division at the World Championships (2002 and 2005), and also participated in two editions of the Olympic Games (1992 and 2004) under different banners.

Starting her sporting career as a judoka for AZS-AWF Wrocław, Juszczak made her official debut at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, where she competed in the women's 72 kg division. She ousted Ecuador's María Cangá in her opening match, before losing out to eventual Olympic champion Kim Mi-Jung of South Korea by a powerful ippon within ten seconds.[3] When Juszczak emigrated to Italy in 1999, she turned her sights to women's wrestling, and later trained full-time for Messina Wrestling Club (Italian: Club Lotta Messina) under her personal coach Francesco Costa.[1]

Twelve years after her last Olympics, Juszczak qualified for her fresh Italian squad in the women's 72 kg class at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. Earlier in the process, she finished second from the Olympic Qualification Tournament in Madrid, Spain to guarantee her place on the Italian wrestling team.[4][5] She lost two straight matches each to eventual Olympic champion Wang Xu of China (0–5) and Canada's Christine Nordhagen (2–5), that left her on the bottom of the prelim pool, placing eleventh in the final standings.[6][7]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "CONI Profile – Katarzyna Juszczak" (in Italian). Italian National Olympic Committee. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
  2. ↑ "Katarzyna Juszczak". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
  3. ↑ "Barcelona 1992: Judo – Women's Half-Heavyweight 72kg" (PDF). Barcelona 1992. LA84 Foundation. p. 309. Retrieved 23 May 2014.
  4. ↑ Abbott, Gary (23 July 2004). "Olympic Games preview at 72 kg/158.5 lbs. in women's freestyle". USA Wrestling. The Mat. Retrieved 22 June 2014.
  5. ↑ "I Siciliani di Atene" [Sicilians in Athens] (in Italian). La Repubblica. 29 July 2004. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
  6. ↑ "Wrestling: Women's Freestyle 72kg". Athens 2004. BBC Sport. 15 August 2004. Retrieved 30 September 2013.
  7. ↑ "Canada's Verbeek advances to wrestling semis; Nordhagen out". CBC Sports. CAAWS. 23 August 2004. Retrieved 9 July 2014.

External links


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