Justyna kowalczyk kasina car

Polish cross-country skier

Justyna Maria Kowalczyk-Tekieli (Polish: [jusˈtɨna&#;kɔˈvalt͡ʂɨk&#;tɛˈkjɛli]; born 19 January ^[1]) is a Polish cross-country skier who has been competing since Kowalczyk is a double Olympic Champion and a double World Champion. She is also the only skier to win the Tour de Ski four times in a row and one of two female skiers (the other being Finn Marjo Matikainen) to win the FIS Cross-Country World Cup three times in a row. Kowalczyk holds the all-time record for wins in the Tour de Ski with 14, and had 29 podiums in total. She also won the Vasaloppet women's edition in ^[2] She was voted the Polish Sports Personality of the Year a record five times.

She is a member of cross country ski department of AZS AWF Katowice and is coached by Aleksander Wierietielny.

Career

Raised in the mountainous Goral village of Kasina Wielka, Southern Poland,^{[citation needed]} Kowalczyk took up cross country skiing at the age of She then competed in her first FIS World Cup race at Cogne (ITA) in December ^[3]

In she came second in the individual sprint at the World Junior Championships. She finished 31st in the individual sprint at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships. Kowalczyk's first World Cup Victory was the 10&#;km classic race at Otepää on 27 January Kowalczyk was 3rd overall in the World Cup.^{[citation needed]}

She won the overall –09 Cross-Country Skiing World Cup. On 24 March , Kowalczyk was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta.^[4]

At the world championships in Liberec, Kowalczyk won two gold medals, one in the women's pursuit (&#;km classical + &#;km free technique), and another one in the 30&#;km mass start. She also secured a bronze medal in the 10&#;km classical event.^[5]

On 27 February , Kowalczyk beat Norway's Marit Bjørgen by seconds to win the gold medal in the women's 30&#;km classical event in the Winter Olympics. She posted a time of one hour, 30 minutes, seconds. She earned two more medals in Vancouver, taking silver behind Bjørgen in the individual sprint classic on 17 February , and bronze in the 15&#;km pursuit on 19 February ^{[citation needed]}

Kowalczyk won the 10&#;km classical race in the Winter Olympics in Sochi on a broken foot. She did not finish 30&#;km freestyle race. ^[6]

On 22 February won bronze medal of the World Championship in team sprint with Sylwia Jaśkowiec in Falun, Sweden.^[7]

She won the Vasaloppet ski marathon in with a time of ^[8] She also won the Birkebeinerrennet long-distance cross-country ski marathon held annually in Norway in and ^[9][10]

Education

Kowalczyk graduated from the Jerzy Kukuczka University of Physical Education in Katowice with an M.A. and a Ph.D. degree in physical education in at the Bronisław Czech University of Physical Education in Kraków, where her dissertation was titled "The structure and volume of training load cross-country skiing on the background of the evolution of technology gear and different levels of sports".^[11][12][13]

Suspension

At the World Championships, Kowalczyk competed but was subsequently disqualified for taking dexamethasone at the Under23 (U23) OPA (Alpine Nations) Intercontinental Cup competition in Oberstdorf, Germany back on 23 January Dexamethasone is a substance that is allowed Out-of-Competition but prohibited In-Competition. It acts as an anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressant. Kowalczyk used the substance to alleviate an Achilles tendon condition.

On 13 June , the FIS Doping Panel issued a two-year suspension (23 January – 22 January ) for Kowalczyk. In late June FIS determined that since dexamethasone was a glucocorticosteroid, it was classified as a specified substance on the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) list of prohibited substances, and therefore the period of ineligibility for the first violation is at a maximum, one year's ineligibility. The FIS Doping Panel therefore reduced the suspension to one year.

Kowalczyk appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) which held that Kowalczyk did not use Dexamethasone to enhance her sport performance. However, she acted negligently, but the measure of the negligence did not justify a one-year term of ineligibility. According to CAS, a reduced period of ineligibility ending 8 December (the day of the hearing) provided the fair and proportionate measure of sanction.

CAS criticised the FIS Doping Panel that their decision excluded any consideration of Kowalczyk's defence that she did not use the substance to enhance her sport performance. According to CAS, Kowalczyk had disclosed and substantiated her defence that Dexamethasone was not intended to enhance performance. She had submitted corresponding medical certifications to the FIS Doping Panel as proof of use in alleviating an Achilles tendon condition. Upon Kowalczyk's prima facie showing that her use of the substance was for medical reasons, the burden of proof shifted to FIS to prove the contrary.

Criticism of anti-asthma drugs

Kowalczyk criticized Marit Bjørgen and other competitors during the Olympic Games in for using anti-asthma drugs. Bjørgen won five medals in the Olympics, three of them gold.^[14] The drug is allowed by FIS if prescribed by an Olympic team physician.^[14] Kowalczyk later apologized for the timing of her statements, since the Games were still going on at the time.^[14] The asthma medication Marit Bjørgen was using, Symbicort, has since been removed from WADA's list of banned substances.^[15]

Personal life

She has three elder siblings: sisters Ilona and Wioletta and brother Tomasz.^[16] In , she revealed in an interview with Gazeta Wyborcza that she had a miscarriage and later struggled with depression.^[17]

In , she married Polish mountaineer Kacper Tekieli with whom she has a son Hugon (born ).^[18] In May , her husband died in an avalanche in Swiss Alps while descending from the summit of Jungfrau.^[19]

Cross-country skiing results

All results are sourced from the International Ski Federation (FIS).^[20]

Olympic Games

• 5 medals – (2 gold, 1 silver, 2 bronze)

World Championships

• 8 medals – (2 gold, 3 silver, 3 bronze)

World Cup

• 9 titles – (4 overall, 4 distance, 1 sprint)

Individual podiums

• 50 victories – (31 WC, 19 SWC)
• podiums – (64 WC, 40 SWC)