WASICK Katarzyna

General
RETURN TO SWIMMING
She had an 18-month break from the sport after suffering a shoulder injury in September 2016. She returned to the sport in February 2018 with the intention of competing at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. "It was my first serious injury due to which I had to stop training and start rehabilitation. Then, I was busy with wedding preparations, moving in to a new place and new job. It all meant that I suddenly ended my career, even if it was not my intention. At some point I realised that I still had a chance [to compete in Tokyo]. I didn't want to watch the Games on TV thinking that I hadn't tried to fight for it. I wanted to have a clear conscience, therefore I decided to fight for my fourth Olympic Games. Almost two years of break gave me a different perspective." She says that the postponement of the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo should work in her favour. "On the day when it was announced that the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo were postponed to 2021, I felt that I had an even bigger chance to go to Tokyo for something huge. I was already three times at the Olympic Games, so I am going at fourth, finally, to achieve something big. It's why I returned to swimming. I could pursue my career in psychology, but I decided to leave it, because I really feel that I still have a chance to achieve something in swimming. Due to the postponement I got one extra year, that's important especially that I returned in 2018 having less than two years to prepare for the Games and now I have three years." (przegladsportowy.pl, 12 Mar 2020; sport.pl, 29 Nov 2020; latonique.news, 19 Oct 2020; RunforestTV YouTube channel, 15 Nov 2020)

PSYCHOLOGY
She graduated in psychology and she says that her studies helped her in her swimming career. "Thanks to my studies I can help myself in sport. I regained the joy of sport. I know how important is the mental side. I gained freshness and thought my goals out and now I do what I love. My studies changed me, I realised that I can fight for big goals, not for those that are minimum. I want to go down in history. These studies opened my mind. It made me realise that both the person who says 'I can't' and the person who says 'I can' are right. I can, and I have nothing to lose. I fight only with myself. To be satisfied. And I will be." (tvn.pl, 07 Jan 2021; sport.pl, 29 Nov 2020)

FROM POLAND TO USA
In 2012 she decided to move from her hometown Krakow in Poland to the United States of America to study and continue her swimming career. At the university she met her husband. "I wanted to learn English and discover different cultures. When I was leaving Poland, I had never thought that I can stay there for a long time, but it was my heart choosing to stay." (tvn.pl, 07 Jan 2021)