Zuzanna Mazurek

{{Short description|Polish swimmer (born 1991)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}}

{{Infobox swimmer

| name = Zuzanna Mazurek

| image = Zuzanna Mazurek.jpg

| image_size =

| caption =

| fullname = Zuzanna Mazurek

| nicknames =

| national_team = {{POL}}

| strokes = Backstroke

| club = UKP Fala Kraśnik

| coach = Slawomir Pliszka

| collegeteam =

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1991|5|15|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Świdnik, Poland

| death_date =

| death_place =

| height =

| weight =

| medaltemplates=

{{MedalSport | Women's swimming}}

{{MedalCountry| Poland }}

{{MedalCompetition|World Junior Championships}}

{{MedalGold| 2008 Monterrey|200 m backstroke }}

{{MedalCompetition|European Junior Championships)}}

{{MedalBronze| 2007 Antwerp|200 m backstroke}}

| show-medals = yes

| updated =

}}

Zuzanna Mazurek (born May 15, 1991, in Świdnik) is a Polish swimmer, who specialized in backstroke events.{{cite sports-reference|title = Zuzanna Mazurek|url = https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ma/zuzanna-mazurek-1.html|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200418100513/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ma/zuzanna-mazurek-1.html|url-status = dead|archive-date = 18 April 2020|access-date = 28 December 2012}} She represented her nation Poland, as a 17-year-old, at the 2008 Summer Olympics, and has claimed multiple Polish records in both 100 and 200 m backstroke, which were eventually broken by Alicja Tchorz in the succeeding decade. Mazurek also swam as a member of UKP Fala Kraśnik, under the tutelage of her coach Sławomir Pliszká.

Mazurek made her swimming history at the 2007 European Junior Championships in Antwerp, Belgium, claiming the bronze medal in the 200 m backstroke over her teammate Iwona Lefanowicz by 0.29 of a second with a time of 2:16.36.{{cite news|last=Rusticus|first=Oene|title=Daniel Gyurta, Emese Kovacs Provide Spark at European Junior Championships|url=http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/lane9/news/15192.asp|publisher=Swimming World Magazine|date=19 July 2007|access-date=5 April 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140330065057/http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/lane9/news/15192.asp|archive-date=30 March 2014}} By the following year, she won a gold medal in the same discipline at the 2008 FINA Youth World Swimming Championships in Monterrey, Mexico, smashing a meet record in 2:12.56.{{cite news|title=World Youth Championships: Assorted Countries Hear Anthems on Third Night|url=http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/lane9/news/18513.asp|publisher=Swimming World Magazine|date=10 July 2008|access-date=5 April 2013}}{{cite news|title=Zuzanna Mazurek złotą medalistką mistrzostw świata w pływaniu|trans-title=Zuzanna Mazurek: Gold medalist at the World Swimming Championships|language=pl|url=http://moje.radio.lublin.pl/zuzanna-mazurek-zlota-medalistka-mistrzostw-swiata-w-plywaniu.html|publisher=Polish Radio Lublin|date=11 July 2008|access-date=5 April 2013}}

At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Mazurek was selected to the Polish Olympic team in the pool, competing in a backstroke double. Four months before the Games, she threw down a scorching time of 2:12.65 (200 m backstroke) to shave 1.78 seconds off the national record (2:14.43) previously set by Aleksandra Miciul in 2000 and clear the insurmountable FINA A-cut (2:12.73) by 0.08 of a second at the Polish Championships in Ostrowiec.{{cite news|title=Polish Championships: Zuzanna Mazurek Crushes National Record in 200 Back|url=http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/lane9/news/17695.asp|publisher=Swimming World Magazine|date=3 April 2008|access-date=5 April 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140104100302/http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/lane9/news/17695.asp|archive-date=4 January 2014}} In the 100 m backstroke, Mazurek pulled away from the field to crush the Polish record in 1:02.77 for a victory over Guatemala's Gisela Morales in heat two by a 0.15-second margin, but finished farther from the semifinal field in thirty-sixth overall.{{cite web|title=Swimming: Women's 100m Backstroke Heat 2 |url=http://www.2008.nbcolympics.com/swimming/resultsandschedules/rsc=SWW041900/index.html |work=Beijing 2008 |publisher=NBC Olympics |access-date=28 December 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120821032355/http://www.2008.nbcolympics.com/swimming/resultsandschedules/rsc%3DSWW041900/index.html |archive-date=21 August 2012 }}{{cite news|title=Zuzanna Mazurek odpadła na 100 metrów grzbietem|trans-title=Zuzanna Mazurek was eliminated in the 100 metre back|language=pl|url=http://www.wiadomosci24.pl/artykul/zuzanna_mazurek_odpadla_na_100_metrow_grzbietem_73287.html|publisher=Wiadomości|date=10 August 2008|access-date=28 March 2016}} In the 200 m backstroke, Mazurek could not produce a similar effort from the initial half of the backstroke double, as she lost in a sprint challenge to Ireland's Melanie Nocher for the top spot in heat two, but managed to finish with a new national record in 2:12.46. Mazurek missed the semifinals by nearly two seconds, as she placed twenty-first overall in the prelims.{{cite web|title=Swimming: Women's 200m Backstroke Heat 2|url=http://www.2008.nbcolympics.com/swimming/resultsandschedules/rsc=SWW042900/index.html|work=Beijing 2008|publisher=NBC Olympics|access-date=28 December 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120821062401/http://www.2008.nbcolympics.com/swimming/resultsandschedules/rsc%3DSWW042900/index.html|archive-date=21 August 2012}}