Athlete

Jurkowska-Kowalska Katarzyna

Warsaw, Poland

161 cm / 5 ft 3 in cm / 50 kg / 110 lb kg

Info

Occupation

Athlete

Education

Jerzy Kukuczka University of Physical Education [AWF], Katowice, POL

Family

Husband Arkadiusz Kowalski

Spoken languages

English, Polish

Club

TS Wisla Krakow [Poland]

Sporting relatives

Her husband Arkadiusz Kowalski has played handball professionally. (Arek Kowalski Facebook profile, 13 Jul 2018; sport.onet.pl, 29 Nov 2017)

Start sporting career

She took up gymnastics at age six in Krakow, Poland. (dziennikpolski24.pl, 25 Oct 2014)

Reason for taking up the sport

"At first I really loved how gymnastics makes you more graceful, and later on I was driven by my success." (dziennikpolski24.pl, 25 Oct 2014)

Ambitions

To compete at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. (sport.onet.pl, 29 Nov 2017)

Most memorable sporting achievement

Finishing fourth on beam at the 2017 World Cup event in Cottbus, Germany. (sport.onet.pl, 29 Nov 2017)

Additional information

General
RETIREMENT AND RETURN
After the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro she retired from the sport to become a gymnastics coach. She still continued to train and returned to international competition in November 2017 at the World Cup event in Cottbus, Germany, where she finished fourth on beam. "After time away I became bored but enjoyed working as a coach. Then after discussing a return with my husband [Arkadiusz] I decided to try and compete at another Olympic Games. I noticed the mistakes I made in Rio so I felt I had to give it another shot." (sport.onet.pl, 29 Nov 2017)

NAMED ELEMENT
In 2014 she had a floor exercise element named after her introduced into the official International Federation of Gymnastics [FIG] Code of Points. This element is a jump with a full turn to a ring position. She was the first person to perform this skill at an official competition. (gymnastike.org, 21 Nov 2014)

Last update : 2018-10-12

Contacts