Barbara Bieganowska-Zając

Barbara Bieganowska-Zając

Niewiedział at the 2013 IPC Athletics World Championships in Lyon.
Personal information
Nationality	Polish
Born	(1981-09-01) 1 September 1981 Nysa, Poland
Sport
Sport	track and field
Disability	Intellectual impairment
Disability class	T20
Event(s)	400m 800m 1500m
Club	MGOKSiR Korfantow
Coached by	Mariusz Zabinski (club) Zbigniew Lewkowicz (national)
Medal record Event 1st 2nd 3rd Paralympic Games 5 0 0 World Championships 8 1 0 European Championships 3 0 0 Paralympic athletics Representing Poland Paralympic Games 2000 Sydney 800 metres – T20 2012 London 1500 metres – T20 2016 Rio de Janeiro 1500 metres – T20 2020 Tokyo 1500 metres – T20 2024 Paris 1500 metres – T20 World Championships 2013 Lyon 1500m – T20 2015 Doha 400m – T20 2015 Doha 800m – T20 2015 Doha 1500m – T20 2017 London 1500m – T20 2019 Dubai 1500m – T20 2023 Paris 1500m – T20 2024 Kobe 1500m – T20 2011 Christchurch 1500m – T20 European Championships 2012 Stadskanaal 1,500m – T20 2016 Grosseto 400m – T20 2016 Grosseto 1,500m – T20

Barbara Bieganowska-Zając (née Niewiedział born 1 September 1981) is a Paralympian athlete from Poland competing mainly in category T20 sprint and middle-distance events. She is a two time Paralympic gold medalist in the 800m (2000) and 1,500 metres (2012) races and has won four World Athletic titles.

Personal history

Niewiedział was born Barbara Bieganowska in Nysa, Poland in 1981. She has two daughters.

Athletics career

Niewiedział first came to note as an athlete when in 1999 she set a world record mark of 57.48 in the 400 metres at a meet in Seville. She followed this with a gold medal in the 800 metres at the 2000 Summer Paralympics in Sydney, beating her team-mate and long-time rival Arleta Meloch into second place. After Sydney Niewidzial's career as an athlete was halted due to her classification being suspended by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) following the cheating scandal at the 2000 Games.

In 2009, the IPC decided to reinstate athletes with intellectual disabilities in readiness for the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London. Niewiedział's return to major international athletics came when she was selected for the Poland team at the 2011 IPC Athletics World Championships in Christchurch. There she competed in the 1,500 metres race, coming second to Meloch. Niewidzial followed this with a gold medal in the 1,500 metres at the 2012 IPC Athletics European Championships in Stadskanaal before winning her second Paralympic gold in the same event in London.

Niewiedział had planned to retire after the London Paralympics, but the experience of competing in front of a cheering capacity crowd that the 2012 Games provided changed her decision. Further success followed at the 2013 IPC Athletics World Championships in Lyon where she took gold in her favoured 1,500m. She furthered this success two years later at the World Championships in Doha, taking three gold medals in the 400m, 800m and the 1,500m races.

In the build up to the 2016 Summer Paralympics, Niewiedział travelled to Italy to take part in the 2016 IPC Athletics European Championships in Grosseto. She won both of her races to take the 400m and 1,500m titles.

External links

• Barbara Bieganowska at World Athletics
• Barbara Bieganowska-Zajac at the International Paralympic Committee
• Barbara Bieganowska-Zajac at IPC.InfostradaSports.com (archived)
• Barbara Bieganowska-Zając (Niewiedział) at the Polski Komitet Paralimpijski (in Polish)