Wojtek Czyz

Personal information

Nationality

German

Born

July 30, 1980 (age 36)
Wodzisław Śląski, Poland

Medal record

Men's Paralympic athletics
Representing Germany
Paralympic Games
	2004 Athens	Long Jump F42/F44
	2004 Athens	100m T42
	2004 Athens	200m T42
	2008 Beijing	Long Jump F42/F44
	2012 London	Long Jump F42/44
	2012 London	100m T42
	2012 London	Men's 4x100m Relay - T42/T46
IPC Athletics World Championships
	2006 Assen	Long Jump F42
	2006 Assen	100m T42
	2006 Assen	200m T42
	2011 Christchurch	Long Jump F42
IWAS World Games
	2009	Long Jump F42
	2009	100m T42
	2011	Long Jump F42
	2011	100m T42
	2011	200m T42

Wojtek Czyz (b. July 30, 1980) is a German Paralympic athlete from Polish part of Silesia.

In 2001, he was an aspiring professional soccer player, and had just signed terms with SC Fortuna Köln. He ran for a loose ball, when the opposing goalkeeper rammed his knee, causing multiple fractures and compartment syndrome. According to Czyz, the injury was gravely underestimated due to professional failure. Due to delays in treatment, his leg had to be amputated. However, Czyz rebounded and established himself as one of the most successful German athletes in the T/F42 class for above-knee amputees.

Eleven months after his amputation, at the German Championships in 2002, Czyz broke the National record for F42 long jump and won the T42 100m event.

He won triple Gold Medals at the 2004 Paralympics. 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. At the 2006 IPC Athletics World Championships he again won triple gold medals.

As of January 2013^[update], Czyz is world record holder in the Men's F42 Long Jump event. He has broken his own world mark several times. He beat his 2008 Paralympics record twice at the 2009 IWAS World Games, but wind assistance invalidated both jumps.

As of September 2012^[update], Czyz was 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").

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