Katarzyna Juszczak

Katarzyna Juszczak married Schillaci[2] (born 4 March 1972 in Wrocław) is a retired amateur Polish-born Italian judoka and freestyle wrestler, who competed in the women's heavyweight category.[3] 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.

Katarzyna Juszczak
Personal information
Full nameKatarzyna Juszczak Schillaci
Nationality Poland
 Italy
Born (1972-03-04) 4 March 1972
Wrocław, Poland
Height1.72 m (5 ft 7+1⁄2 in)
Weight72 kg (159 lb)
Sport
SportWrestling
StyleFreestyle
ClubAZS-AWF Wrocław (POL)
Lotta Messina (ITA)[1]
CoachFrancesco Costa (ITA)[1]

She is the mather of the Italian judoka and paralympic Champion Carolina Costa.[4]

Biography

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. She ousted Ecuador's María Cangá in her opening match, before losing out to eventual Olympic champion Kim Mi-jung of South Korea by a powerful ippon within ten seconds.[5]

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.[6][7] 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.[8][9]

Personal life

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.[1] In 2005, after the death of her husband,[10] she remained to live and work in the sporting environment in the city of Messina, later she married the former Italian Olympic wrestler Giovanni Schillaci, and together they trained their daughter Carolina Costa,[11] who in 2019 is qualified in the judo at the 2020 Summer Paralympics.[10]

Achievements
YearCompetitionVenuePositionEventNotes
Representing  Poland
Judo
1992 Olympic Games Spain Barcelona 7th 72 kg
Representing  Italy
Freestyle wrestling
2004 Olympic Games Greece Athens 11th 72 kg

See also

References
  1. "CONI Profile – Katarzyna Juszczak" (in Italian). Italian National Olympic Committee. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
  2. "Katarzyna Juszczak Schillaci". facebook.com. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
  3. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Katarzyna Juszczak". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
  4. "Judo, la storia di Carolina che sogna le ParaOlimpiadi del 2020 a Tokyo" (in Italian). messina.gazzettadelsud.it. 14 November 2018. Retrieved 13 August 2019. Carolina Costa. Una ragazzona di 24 anni (compiuti lo scorso 25 agosto). Figlia d'arte: il papà il compianto maestro Franco Costa, la mamma la polacca Katarzyna Juszcak
  5. "Barcelona 1992: Judo – Women's Half-Heavyweight 72kg" (PDF). Barcelona 1992. LA84 Foundation. p. 309. Retrieved 23 May 2014.
  6. Abbott, Gary (23 July 2004). "Olympic Games preview at 72 kg/158.5 lbs. in women's freestyle". USA Wrestling. The Mat. Retrieved 22 June 2014.
  7. "I Siciliani di Atene" [Sicilians in Athens] (in Italian). La Repubblica. 29 July 2004. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
  8. "Wrestling: Women's Freestyle 72kg". Athens 2004. BBC Sport. 15 August 2004. Retrieved 30 September 2013.
  9. "Canada's Verbeek advances to wrestling semis; Nordhagen out". CBC Sports. CAAWS. 23 August 2004. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
  10. "Judo, la storia di Carolina che sogna le ParaOlimpiadi del 2020 a Tokyo" (in Italian). messina.gazzettadelsud.it. 14 November 2018. Retrieved 7 May 2020. Carolina Costa. Una ragazzona di 24 anni (compiuti lo scorso 25 agosto). Figlia d'arte: il papà il compianto maestro Franco Costa, la mamma la polacca Katarzyna Juszcak
  11. "Carolina Costa campionessa d'Europa, con vista su Tokyo: "Gioia indescrivibile"" (in Italian). messinasportiva.it. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
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