Natalia Kot-Wala (born 29 June 1938) is a Polish former

artistic gymnast Artistic gymnastics is a discipline of gymnastics in which athletes perform short routines on different apparatuses. The sport is governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG), which designs the Code of Points and regulates ...

. She is the

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim ...

Olympic bronze medalist with the Polish team,

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

European all-around and vault champion, as well as 2-time European bronze medalist. She also competed at the

1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics ( it, Giochi Olimpici estivi del 1960), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad ( it, Giochi della XVII Olimpiade) and commonly known as Rome 1960 ( it, Roma 1960), were an international multi-sport event held ...

."Natalia Kot"
sports-reference.com. Retrieved May 22, 2013.

Career

She was a 3-time Polish all-around champion from 1959, 1961 and 1962. Throughout her career, she won 15 national titles Kot competed at the

1956 Summer Olympic Games The 1956 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVI Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, from 22 November to 8 December 1956, with the exception of the equestrian events, whi ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

. She won a bronze medal in the team portable apparatus event, tying with the

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

team. Polish women also finished fourth in the all-around team competition, behind USSR,

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

and

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

respectively. Individually, she finished 9th in the all-around with her country's second highest score. She also finished 7th on vault, tying with teammate and the

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 cr ...

World all-around champion Helena Rakoczy, 8th on the uneven bars, 13th on the balance beam and 14th on the floor exercise. Two years later, she represented Poland at the

1958 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships The 14th Artistic Gymnastics World Championships were held on July 6–10, 1958 in Moscow, the capital of the USSR. Medallists Men's Results All-around Floor exercise Pommel horse Rings Vault Parallel bars Horizontal bar Team ...

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, where she finished 8th in the team all-around competition. She did not make any individual finals. In

, she won the all-around title at the

European Championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

. She also won a gold medal on vault and bronze on the balance beam and finished 6th on the floor exercise. She is the only Polish gymnast ever to win the European all-around gold. She competed at the 1960 Summer Olympic Games in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, where she did not manage to win any medals. She finished 12th in the individual all-around, as well as 13th on vault, 9th on the uneven bars, 21st on the balance beam and 12th on the floor exercise. Polish team finished 5th behind USSR,

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

, Romania and

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. One year later, she competed at the 1961 European Championships in

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

, where she won a bronze medal on vault. In

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wors ...

, she competed at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

, where she finished 7th with the Polish team.

Personal life

She was born on 29 June 1938 in Bytków,

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

. She is married to Polish ski jumper Piotr Wala, who competed at the

1964 Winter Olympic Games The 1964 Winter Olympics, officially known as the IX Olympic Winter Games (german: IX. Olympische Winterspiele) and commonly known as Innsbruck 1964 ( bar, Innschbruck 1964, label=Austro-Bavarian), was a winter multi-sport event which was celebra ...

. They have a son. After retiring from gymnastics and finishing university, she worked in a primary school and became a gymnastics coach in

Bielsko-Biała Bielsko-Biała (; cs, Bílsko-Bělá, german: Bielitz-Biala, szl, Bjylsko-Bjoło) is a city in southern Poland, with a population of approximately 168,319 as of December 2021, making it the 22nd largest city in Poland, and an area of . It is a ...

. She and her husband currently live in Bystra Śląska.

References

*https://olimpijski.pl/olimpijczycy/kot-wala-natalia/ 1938 births Living people Sportspeople from Silesian Voivodeship Polish female artistic gymnasts Gymnasts at the 1956 Summer Olympics Gymnasts at the 1960 Summer Olympics Olympic gymnasts of Poland Olympic medalists in gymnastics Olympic bronze medalists for Poland Medalists at the 1956 Summer Olympics People from Siemianowice Śląskie European champions in gymnastics 20th-century Polish women {{Poland-artistic-gymnastics-bio-stub