Katarzyna Juszczak

Career

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. 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. 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

Achievements

• 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. She ousted Ecuador"s María Cangá in her opening match, before losing out to eventual Olympic champion Kim Mi-Jung of South of Korea by a powerful ippon within ten seconds. 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.