Beata Sokołowska-Kulesza

Beata Sokołowska
Full name	Beata Sokołowska-Kulesza
nation	Poland
birthday	January 10, 1974
place of birth	Gorzów Wielkopolski ,  Poland
size	160 cm
Weight	59 kg
Career
discipline	Canoe racing
Boat class	K-2 , K-4 v. a. 500 m and 200 m
society	MKKS Gorzów Wielkopolski
Trainer	Krystyna Głażewska (club coach) Piotr Głażewski (national coach)
status	unknown
Medal table
Olympic medals 0 × 0 × 2 × World Cup medals 1 × 4 × 5 × EM medals 5 × 1 × 2 ×
Olympic games bronze Sydney 2000 K-2 500 m bronze Athens 2004 K-2 500 m 4th Sydney 2000 K-4 500 m World Championship gold Milan 1999 K-2 500 m silver Milan 1999 K-2 200 m silver Poznan 2001 K-2 200 m silver Poznan 2001 K-2 500 m silver Zagreb 2005 K-4 200 m bronze Milan 1999 K-4 200 m bronze Milan 1999 K-4 500 m bronze Gainesville 2003 K-2 200 m bronze Gainesville 2003 K-2 500 m bronze Gainesville 2003 K-4 200 m European Championship gold Zagreb 1999 K-2 0200 m gold Zagreb 1999 K-2 0500 m gold Zagreb 1999 K-2 1000 m gold Poznan 2000 K-2 0200 m gold Poznan 2000 K-2 0500 m silver Milan 2001 K-2 1000 m bronze Poznan 2001 K-2 1000 m bronze Milan 2001 K-2 0200 m

Beata Sokołowska-Kulesza (born January 10, 1974 in Gorzów Wielkopolski , Lubusz Voivodeship ) is a Polish canoe racer and two-time winner of the Olympic bronze medal in two-man kayaks (K-2) with Aneta Pastuszka over 500 m in Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004 .

Her specialty is the sprint routes (200 m, 500 m) in a single kayak (K-1), two-person kayak (K-2) and four-person kayak (K-4).

Career

Beata Sokołowska started canoe racing in 1986 at the canoeing club in her hometown. She trains there together with her double partner Aneta Pastuszka . Despite mutual success, her partner competed in the Olympic Games in 1996 while she was battling anemia herself . At the Canoe Racing World Championships in Milan in 1999 , she became world champion in the K-2 over 500 m, took silver over 200 m and two bronze medals in the K-4 over 200 m and 500 m. In Sydney 2000 she just missed third place with the team over 500 m (6.6 hundredths); In addition, uneven wind conditions destroyed the dream of safe gold, but she was satisfied with the bronze medal over 500 m with her partner under these circumstances. In the following years she determined the Polish canoe elite (17 gold, 7 silver and 2 bronze medals). At the Canoe Racing World Championships in Poznan in 2001 , she was second over the 200 m and 500 m distance in the K-2 with Aneta Pastuszka . At the 2003 Canoe Racing World Championships in Gainesville (Georgia) she won three bronze medals; over 200 m again with Aneta Pastuszka in a canoe, over 500 m with Joanna Skowroń and with her teammates Iwona Pyzalska , Małgorzata Czajczyńska and Joanna Skowroń in a foursome also over 200 m. At the Canoe Racing World Championships in Zagreb in 2005 she missed an individual medal, but sprinted with the team in the same line-up as in 2003 over 200 m to silver. She is also a multiple winner and medalist at canoe racing European championships .

Private

Even after the birth of her child in 2002, she made the leap into the national team. She is married and still lives in Gorzów Wielkopolski.

Honors

Beata Sokołowska-Kulesza received the Cross of Merit of the Republic of Poland in gold on November 10, 2000 .

On October 7, 2004, she was honored with the Polish order Polonia Restituta in the knight class.

Web links

• Beata Sokołowska-Kulesza in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• athletic biography of Beata Sokołowska-Kulesza on the website of Polski Komitet Olimpijski (Polish)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ postanowienie Prezydenta Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej. (PDF, 21 KB) In: Monitor Polski 2001 No. 2, poz. 38, Rej. 270/2000. Prezydent Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej: A. Kwaśniewski, November 10, 2000, accessed January 5, 2013 (Polish). 
2. ↑ postanowienie Prezydenta Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej. (PDF, 19 KB) In: Monitor Polski 2005 No. 7, poz. 93, Rej. 235/2004. Prezydent Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej: A. Kwaśniewski, October 7, 2004, accessed January 5, 2013 (Polish).