Wojtek_Czyz

Wojtek Czyz

Wojtek Czyz (b. July 30, 1980 in Wodzisław, Poland) is a disabled German athlete of Polish descent.

He lost his lower left leg in 2001, when he was an aspiring soccer player. He ran for a loose ball, when the opposing goalkeeper rammed his knee, causing multiple fractures and destroying several major blood vessels. According to Czyz, the injury was gravely underestimated due to professional failure, and eventually, amputation was necessary.

However, Czyz rebounded and established himself as one of the most successful German athletes in the T42 handicap class (leg amputees). A Team Ossur member, he won triple Gold Medals at the Athletics World Championship 2004 for the Disabled. He won the 100 m- and the 200 m-dash the long jump for leg amputees, setting World Records in the latter two. In the European Championship of 2005, he repeated his triple crown, winning each discipline again, and feat emulated in the 2006 World Championships, when he again won triple gold medals.

Awards

2008 Summer Paralympics

Gold medal with new world record in long jump F42/44 (6.50m)

2007 World Championships

Gold medal in long jump (5.88m)

2006 World Championships

Gold medal in 100m sprint (12.79s)

Gold medal in 200m sprint (25.90s)

Gold medal in long jump (5.98m)

2005 European Championships

Gold medal in 100m sprint (12.61s)

Gold medal in 200m sprint with new world record (25.75s)

Gold medal in long jump (6.20m)

2004 Summer Paralympics

Gold medal with new Paralympic record in 100m sprint T42 (12.51s)

Gold medal with new world record in 200m sprint T42 (26.18s)

Gold medal with new world record in long jump F42 (6.23m)

2003 European Championships

Gold medal in long jump

Personal life

Czyz is currently a sport student in Cologne. His personal motto is "don't think of what you were, but of what you are and of what you aspire to be" ("denk nicht an das was du warst, sondern an das, was du bist und zu sein dich sehnst").