Otylia Jędrzejczak
(born December 13, 1983) is a Polish swimmer. She is the current
Olympic champion
in the 200 metre butterfly. She took part in the 2000
and 2004 Summer Olympics, and three times broke the world record in the
women's 200 m butterfly (one of these times was in the 25-metre pool).
Jędrzejczak
was born in Ruda Śląska, Silesian Voivodship, Poland. She started
swimming at the age of six as a measure to correct a slight curvature
of the spine. At first she hated the sport. Her attitude towards it
changed after she had won her first prize in a competition in Germany
at the age of eight. Jędrzejczak took up swimming seriously in high
school. Led by coach Maria Jakóbik, she won her first titles in the
Junior European Championships in 1999. Medals in the Senior European
Championships in 1999 and 2000 opened the way to her first Olympic
appearance.
Currently, Jędrzejczak is a student at the Academy
of Physical Education in Warsaw (Akademia Wychowania Fizycznego w
Warszawie). Her coach is Paweł Słomiński. She stands 187 cm (6 ft 1½
in) tall and wears a size 46 (EU)/13 (US) shoe.
On 1 October
2005 she was injured in a car accident, which killed her 19-year-old
brother, Szymon. She was driving, attempting to pass several long-haul
trucks at high speed and crashed into a tree.
On 25 March 2006
she came back to competitive swimming, winning 200 m butterfly at an
international meet featuring Poland, Ukraine and the Czech Republic.
She won in a time of 2:15.73 s, some 10 seconds slower than her own
world record.
Olympic Games gold medal auction Jędrzejczak
owes her Olympic gold medal success to a brilliant finish in the last
quarter of the 200 metre distance, which allowed her to overtake
Australian Petria Thomas, who led the race for over 150 metres.
After
the race Jędrzejczak revealed, that during the pre-Olympic trials in
Athens in June she had declared that if she won a gold medal in the
Olympics, she would auction it off and hand the proceeds to a charity
helping children suffering from leukemia.
The results of the
internet auction were announced on the 19 December 2004 with Victoria
Cymes, a Polish food company, turning out to be the highest bidder with
257,550 zlotys (about 82,437 USD). The money was handed over to the
Oncology and Haematology Clinic of Wrocław's Children's Hospital.