Marta Pihan-Kulesza (Polish pronunciation: ; born 23 July 1987) is a Polish

artistic gymnast Artistic gymnastics is a discipline of gymnastics in which athletes perform short routines on different types of apparatus. The sport is governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG), which assigns the '' Code of Points'' used ...

. She represented her country at the

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

and

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. She is a 12-time Polish all-around champion (2004–2005, 2007–2010, 2012–2014, 2018, 2020, 2024) and a multiple-time

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

medalist.

Personal life

Marta Pihan was born on 23 July 1987 in

Szczecin Szczecin ( , , ; ; ; or ) is the capital city, capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the Poland-Germany border, German border, it is a major port, seaport, the la ...

, Zachodniopomorskie, Poland. She has been married to fellow gymnast Roman Kulesza since 2009. In 2017, she gave birth to her daughter Jagna. In 2022, she gave birth to her son Radlimir.

Career

Pihan-Kulesza became the Polish all-around champion nine times – in 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2014. She competed at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

, China. She also represented her country at the

in London where she had a chance to be in the top 12 all-around after first three rotations, but eventually finished 19th due to a fall on the balance beam. She was also third reserve for the floor exercise final, where she placed 11th. She is known for a difficult beam routine which includes a clean switch 1/1 and a double front (and later double Arabian) dismount. Her floor routine also had considerable difficulty.

2014

In the qualifying round at the 2014 European Championships in

Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...

, Pihan-Kulesza posted a 56.499, which was the third highest all-around score. She qualified third on the balance beam with a 14.400 and sixth on floor with a 14.300. In the finals Pihan-Kulesza had a wobbly beam routine placing sixth with a 13.733 score. She performed a clean floor routine and tied for the fourth place with Romania's

Diana Bulimar Diana Laura Bulimar (; born 22 August 1995) is a Romanian artistic gymnast and a 2-time European Champion with Romania. She was part of the Romanian team at the 2012 Summer Olympics that won the bronze medal. Junior career 2010 In April, Bul ...

. At the 2014 World Championships in

Nanning Nanning; is the capital of the Guangxi, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in South China, southern China. It is known as the "Green City (绿城) " because of its abundance of lush subtropical foliage. Located in the South of Guangxi, Nanning ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, Pihan-Kulesza qualified 13th for the all-around final with a 55.665 score. She finished third reserve on floor with 13.900 after experiencing difficulty with her last pass where she debuted and stuck her piked double Arabian. She also finished 25th on both the balance beam and the uneven bars with a score of 13.766 and 13.933 respectively. Her scores contributed to Polish team's 17th-place finish, which was enough to qualify for the 2015 World Championships held in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

. She made a few mistakes in the all-around final and finished 14th with a 55.156.

2015 to 2016

In 2015, Pihan-Kulesza competed at the

European Championships A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

Montpellier Montpellier (; ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of France, department of ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, where she finished fifth in the all-around competition with a 55.198, as well as fifth in the floor exercise final with a 14.233. A few weeks later, she was set to compete at the

2015 European Games The 1st European Games (), also known as the 2015 European Games or Baku 2015 (), were the inaugural edition of the European Games, an international multi-sport event for athletes representing the National Olympic Committees (NOCs) of the Europe ...

Baku Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital ci ...

, but had to withdraw from the competition due to an injury sustained at the Polish Championships. At the 2015 World Championships in

, she made a few mistakes in the qualifications and did not reach any finals. In early 2016, Pihan-Kulesza announced her retirement from competitive gymnastics at the age of 29.

2017 to 2020

In 2017, she gave birth to her daughter, Jagna. At the end of the year, she came back to training and made a comeback at the 2018 Polish Cup, where she took the all-around gold. At the end of June, she won her 9th national all-around title at the Polish Championships in

Gdańsk Gdańsk is a city on the Baltic Sea, Baltic coast of northern Poland, and the capital of the Pomeranian Voivodeship. With a population of 486,492, Data for territorial unit 2261000. it is Poland's sixth-largest city and principal seaport. Gdań ...

. She competed at the

2018 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships The 2018 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships was the 48th edition of the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships. The competition was held from October 25 – November 3, 2018, at the Aspire Academy Dome in Doha, Qatar. It was the first t ...

Doha Doha ( ) is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor (city), Al Khor and Lusail, it is home to most of the country's population. It ...

, however, she failed to make any finals. In 2019, she competed at the

2019 European Artistic Gymnastics Championships The 8th European European Men's Artistic Gymnastics Championships, Men's and European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships, Women's Artistic Gymnastics Individual Championships took place from 10 to 14 April 2019 at the Arena Szczecin, Nett ...

in her hometown, but mistakes in qualifications did not allow her to compete in any of the finals. In November 2020, Marta won her 11th national all-around title at the Polish Championships in

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

. Due to the scandal of the Polish Gymnastics Federation failing to pay back the money it owes to the European Gymnastics after hosting the 2019 European Championships, Poland was banned from competing at any international sports events organized by the continental union, therefore Pihan-Kulesza was not able to participate in the 2020 European Artistic Gymnastics Championships in

Mersin Mersin () is a large city and port on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast of Mediterranean Region, Turkey, southern Turkey. It is the provincial capital of the Mersin Province (formerly İçel). It is made up of four district governorates ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pihan, Marta 1987 births Sportspeople from Szczecin Polish female artistic gymnasts Living people Gymnasts at the 2008 Summer Olympics Gymnasts at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic gymnasts for Poland 21st-century Polish sportswomen