About Jerzy Dziadkowiec

• Olympian 1972
• Six Times Olympic Team Coach
  • 2004, 2000, 1996, 1992 - USA,
  • and 1988, 1984 - Poland.

Over 40 years in the sport of Flatwater Canoe Kayak, both as an athlete and a coach, has taught me many things from the beginnings of learning how to paddle to competing for medals at the Olympic Games. Initially I began my own paddling career at a club in the city of Krakow, Poland where I grew up. After a few years of dedication I emerged as one of the top junior athletes in the country, with opportunities to compete at major international regattas culminating at the junior world championships in 1967 (the first ever official junior championships in the sport). Later my career took me to competing at the senior level, at world championships and again culminating at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, Germany.

From my experiences as an athlete I developed a true passion for the sport. After my education in Poland (Dual Master's degree in Physical Education and Coaching), I continued with the sport in hopes of passing on my passion to the youth and next generations. Beginning as a club coach, I first opened sport classes and introduced kayaking to the youth. After 7 years I was named the National Team Coach for Poland in 1990. Since that year I have been involved with many national teams, leading representations of Poland and the United States to 6 Olympic Games, finishing with the Athens Games in 2004.

With my tenure as a coach, I have had a great deal of experience working with many successful Olympians, world championship medalists, and athletes of all ages from all over the world. The past couple years I have been committed to working with the Washington Canoe Club, where I coached as well as helped run and develop a growing program and lead the 250 member club (including novice, juniors, seniors and masters) to national prominence in the United States. In addition, within the last couple years I also brought up 5 athletes from this club to the United States Junior World Championship teams in 2005 and 2007. In the 2007 year I was one of three coaches to travel to Racice, Czech Republic for the Junior World Championships. Most recently I have been involved in preparing multiple athletes for performance at the Beijing Olympic Games. Prior to the games I provided training programs and information to the Japanese Women's K4 and K2 squads which both made the Olympic final in 2008. I have been more intensively working as a consultant with the Czech Canoe Union with both developing athletes as well as elite sprint level athletes. The lone K2 Women's squad which qualified for the Beijing Olympics made the final as well.  All together 3 Olympic finals from 2 different nations. Currently I am working with CCU head coach Martin Doktor in developing a new base of athletes in sprint kayak and developing these athletes to compete at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Working with the CCU has resulted in a lot of success this quadrennial. Over the last couple years the Czech Athletes have won numerous World and European Championships medals as well as many World Cup medals across all levels, Junior, U23, and Senior. Specifically the senior men's K4 has consistently been competing for the podium with two European Championships bronze medals already, the future looks bright for the CCU!       You can learn more about me by looking at my resume here.