Justyna Maria Kowalczyk-Tekieli (born 19 January 1983) is a Polish cross-country skier who has been competing since 2000. Kowalczyk is a double Olympic Champion and a double World Champion. She is also the only skier to win the

Tour de Ski Tour or Tours may refer to: Travel * Tourism, travel for pleasure * Tour of duty, a period of time spent in military service * Campus tour, a journey through a college or university's campus * Guided tour, a journey through a location, directed ...

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 The FIS Cross-Country World Cup is an annual cross-country skiing competition, arranged by the International Ski Federation (FIS) since 1981. The competition was arranged unofficially between 1973 and 1981, although it received provisional recogn ...

three times in a row. Kowalczyk holds the all-time record for wins in the

with 14, and had 29 podiums in total. She also won the

Vasaloppet ( Swedish for 'the Vasa-race') is an annual long distance cross-country ski race held on the first Sunday of March. The course starts in the village of Berga, just south of Sälen in western Dalarna, Sweden, and ends in the town of Mora in t ...

women's edition in 2015. She is a member of cross country ski department of

AZS AWF Katowice AZS AWF Katowice is a Polish women's handball team, based in Katowice. See also * Handball in Poland * Sports in Poland Poland's sports include almost all sporting disciplines, in particular: football (the most popular sport), volleyball, mo ...

and is coached by Aleksander Wierietielny.

Career

Raised in the mountainous

Goral The gorals are four species in the genus ''Naemorhedus''. They are small ungulates with a goat-like or antelope-like appearance. Until recently, this genus also contained the serow species (now in genus '' Capricornis''). Etymology The original ...

village of Kasina Wielka, Southern Poland, Kowalczyk took up cross country skiing at the age of 10. She then competed in her first FIS World Cup race at Cogne (ITA) in December 2001. In 2002 she came second in the individual sprint at the World Junior Championships. She finished 31st in the individual sprint at the 2003 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships. Kowalczyk's first World Cup Victory was the 10 km classic race at Otepää on January 27, 2007. Kowalczyk was 3rd overall in the 2007 World Cup. She won the overall 2008–09 Cross-Country Skiing World Cup. On 24 March 2009, Kowalczyk was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Order of

Polonia Restituta The Order of Polonia Restituta ( pl, Order Odrodzenia Polski, en, Order of Restored Poland) is a Polish state order established 4 February 1921. It is conferred on both military and civilians as well as on foreigners for outstanding achievement ...

. At the 2009 world championships in Liberec, Kowalczyk won two gold medals, one in the women's pursuit (7.5 km classical + 7.5 km free technique), and another one in the 30 km mass start. She also secured a bronze medal in the 10 km classical event. On 27 February 2010, Kowalczyk beat Norway's

Marit Bjørgen Marit Bjørgen (born 21 March 1980) is a former Norwegian cross-country skier. She is ranked first in the all-time Cross-Country World Cup rankings with 114 individual victories. Bjørgen is also the most successful sprinter in Cross-Country W ...

by 0.3 seconds to win the gold medal in the women's 30 km classical event in the 2010 Winter Olympics. She posted a time of one hour, 30 minutes, 33.7 seconds. She earned two more medals in Vancouver, taking silver behind Bjørgen in the individual sprint classic on 17 February 2010, and bronze in the 15 km pursuit on 19 February 2010. Kowalczyk won the 10 km classical race in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi on a broken foot. She did not finish 30 km freestyle race. On 22 February 2015 won bronze medal of the World Championship 2015 in

team sprint The team sprint (also sometimes known as the Olympic sprint) is a track cycling event. Despite its name, it is not a conventional cycling sprint event – it is a three-rider team time trial held over three laps of a velodrome. The current men's ...

with Sylwia Jaśkowiec in

Falun Falun () is a city and the seat of Falun Municipality in Dalarna County, Sweden, with 37,291 inhabitants in 2010. It is also the capital of Dalarna County. Falun forms, together with Borlänge, a metropolitan area with just over 100,000 inhabitan ...

, Sweden. She won the

ski marathon in 2015 with a time of 4:41:02. She also won the

Birkebeinerrennet Birkebeinerrennet (lit. The Birkebeiner race) is a long-distance cross-country ski marathon held annually in Norway. It debuted in 1932 and has been a part of Worldloppet since Worldloppet's inception in 1979. The Birkebeinerrennet is one of th ...

long-distance cross-country ski marathon held annually in Norway in 2017 and 2018.

Education

Kowalczyk graduated from the Jerzy Kukuczka University of Physical Education in Katowice with an

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

and a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

degree in

physical education Physical education, often abbreviated to Phys Ed. or P.E., is a subject taught in schools around the world. It is usually taught during primary and secondary education, and encourages psychomotor learning by using a play and movement explorat ...

in 2014 at the Bronisław Czech University of Physical Education in

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 ...

, 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''".

2005 Suspension

Marit Björgen, Justyna Kowalczyk, Kerttu Niskanen

At the 2005 World Championships, Kowalczyk competed but was subsequently disqualified for taking

dexamethasone Dexamethasone is a glucocorticoid medication used to treat rheumatic problems, a number of skin diseases, severe allergies, asthma, chronic obstructive lung disease, croup, brain swelling, eye pain following eye surgery, superior vena ...

at the Under23 (U23) OPA (Alpine Nations) Intercontinental Cup competition in Oberstdorf,

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

back on 23 January 2005. 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 2005, the

FIS FIS or fis may refer to: Science and technology * '' Fis'', an ''E. Coli'' gene * Fis phenomenon, a phenomenon in linguistics * F♯ (musical note) * Flight information service, an air traffic control service * Frame Information Structure, a Se ...

Doping Panel issued a two-year suspension (23 January 2005 – 22 January 2007) for Kowalczyk. In late June 2005 FIS determined that since dexamethasone was a glucocorticosteroid, it was classified as a specified substance on the

World Anti-Doping Agency The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA; french: Agence mondiale antidopage, AMA) is a foundation initiated by the International Olympic Committee based in Canada to promote, coordinate, and monitor the fight against drugs in sports. The agency's key ...

(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 The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS; french: Tribunal arbitral du sport, ''TAS'') is an international body established in 1984 to settle disputes related to sport through arbitration. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland and its c ...

(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 2005 (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

and other competitors during the Olympic Games in 2010 for using anti-asthma drugs. Bjørgen won five medals in the Olympics, three of them gold."Cross-Country Skiing: Kowalczyk claims ladies 30 km gold".
– 27 February 2010 Vancouver2010.com (AFP) article accessed 28 February 2010. The drug is allowed by FIS if prescribed by an Olympic team physician. Kowalczyk later apologized for the timing of her statements, since the Games were still going on at the time. The asthma medication Marit Bjørgen was using, Symbicort, has since been removed from WADA's list of banned substances. The cycling link is used because it is the most concise text about Symbicort's removal. The list of banned substances is, of course, the same for cycling and cross-country skiing

Cross-country skiing results

All results are sourced from the International Ski Federation (FIS).

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 , 19 ) * 104 podiums – (64 , 40 )

Team podiums

* 1 podium – (1 )

References

https://www.olympic.org/justyna-kowalczyk - retrieved 16 January 2018

External links

June 13, 2005 FIS Doping Control statement on Kowalczyk (Digitized version).
– Accessed 30 July 2006
July 13, 2005 FIS Newsflash statement on Kowalczyk's suspension (Digitized version).
– Accessed 30 July 2006
December 14, 2005 FIS Newsflash on her overturned suspension (Digitized version).
– Accessed 30 July 2006
Arbitration CAS 2005/A/918 Kowalczyk v/ FIS, award of 8 December 2005
*

Justyna Kowalczyk Official Site

Unofficial Site in English and Swedish
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kowalczyk, Justyna 1983 births Cross-country skiers at the 2006 Winter Olympics Cross-country skiers at the 2007 Winter Universiade Cross-country skiers at the 2010 Winter Olympics Cross-country skiers at the 2014 Winter Olympics Cross-country skiers at the 2018 Winter Olympics Doping cases in cross-country skiing Medalists at the 2007 Winter Universiade Living people People from Limanowa County Polish Gorals Polish female cross-country skiers Polish sportspeople in doping cases Olympic cross-country skiers of Poland Olympic gold medalists for Poland Olympic bronze medalists for Poland Olympic silver medalists for Poland Knights of the Order of Polonia Restituta Olympic medalists in cross-country skiing FIS Nordic World Ski Championships medalists in cross-country skiing FIS Cross-Country World Cup champions Medalists at the 2010 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2006 Winter Olympics Sportspeople from Lesser Poland Voivodeship Medalists at the 2014 Winter Olympics Tour de Ski winners Tour de Ski skiers Universiade medalists in cross-country skiing Universiade gold medalists for Poland