Justyna Kowalczyk

Justyna Kowalczyk won gold on Feb. 13th with the time of 28:17.8. This was her second course out of three over eight days. This was also the only gold placing over the three courses. Justyna Kowalczyk is a Polish skier who has been competing internationally since 2000. Her career as a skier has not been an easy one; this polish 31 year old was born on Jan. 23, 1983 and started skiing at age ten. She is the only Polish athlete to win a medal. Her country must be proud! Her first major medal was the sprint at the 2003 junior world championships. Then, she participated in the 2005 World Championships but was then disqualified for taking a substance called dexamethasone at an earlier competition. But she argued that she had taken it for an Achilles tendon condition, not to enhance performance. She was then banned from the competitions for two years, then reduced to one year, then ended on Dec. 8, 2005. Three weeks after returning to the events, Kowalczyk won her first World Cup medal, a bronze in the 10-kilo. race at Otepaeae, Estonia. She then won the 30 kilo. bronze in 2006, and in 2010, Kowalczyk won a gold, silver and bronze right here in Vancouver. Being the only polish skier to win the world cup seems like a lot, right? But no, she didn’t stop at one; she won three from 2009 to 2011. By the end of 2013, Justyna had earned 29 world cup victories and 62 podiums in 185 individual world cup starts since 2001. In Davos, Switzerland, she finished only 25th and 11th in her 2 events and then got another world cup gold in Asiago, Italy in the sprint. In conclusion, Justyna Kowalczyk is a very successful athlete.
By
-Isha and Alex