Wojtek Czyz
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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). 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.
[edit] 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 see yourself" ("denk nicht an das was du warst, sondern an das, was du bist und zu sein dich sehst").
[edit] Personal Records
- 100m dash: 12,51s (Paralympics Record, September 21, 2004, Athens)
- 200m dash: 25,75s (World Record, August 27, 2005, Espoo)
- Long jump: 6,35s (World Record, August 20, 2006, Rhede)
