Josefa Idem

Josefa Idem Guerrini (born September 23, 1964 in Goch, West Germany) is an Italian canoer. She has won four Olympic medals in kayak flatwater canoe racing, and 35 international medals during her career. She was the first Italian woman to win World Championships and Olympic medals in kayak.

Josefa Idem began paddling at the age of eleven. In 1977, aged thirteen, she competed at the European Championships in Plovdiv and won gold medals over 200, 500 and 1000 metres as well as a bronze medal in doubles kayaking ("K-2") with Ravetta Rosette. In the following years she focused mainly on her language school education but competed for West Germany at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, winning a bronze medal in the K-2 500 metres with Barbara Schüttpelz. The next year Idem switched to K-1, the individual kayak racing event.

At the 1988 Olympics in Seoul she placed ninth in the K-1 500 metres and fifth with the West German quartet in the K-4 500 metres. In November the same year Idem moved to Italy where she eventually met Gugliemo Guerrini, her present husband and coach. The cooperation paid off as she won two bronze medals at the 1989 World Championships in Plovdiv, the city where she won her first international medals.

Idem married Guerrini in 1990 and hence became an Italian citizen in 1992. She competed for Italy at the Olympic Games the same year, placing fourth. Four years later, however, at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, she won the bronze medal in the K-1 500 metres.

This was the beginning of her most successful period: from 1997 to 2002 she won three World Championships titles (as well as 10 silver and bronze medals), five European titles and finally the Olympic gold medal in Sydney 2000. In 2003 she gave birth to her second child, but she returned to compete in the K-1 500 metres at the Games in Athens in 2004, winning the silver medal.

In her seventh Olympic appearance, at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, at the age of 43, she won her fifth medal, the silver in K-1 500 metres; after leading for much of the latter part of the race, she was overtaken at the very end by the Ukrainian kayaker, losing to her in a photo finish by only four thousandths of a second, 1:50.677 to 1:59.673. After the race she said that she wanted to continue until the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

Today Idem lives in Ravenna, with Gugliemo Guerrini and their two children.

From 2001 to 2007 she served as Ravenna city councillor delegate for sports ("assessore" in Italian), as member of the centre-left Olive Tree.

Idem has also been involved in social work, most prominently as a spokesperson for Emergency as well as Associazione Italiana Sclerosi Multipla, an organization for multiple sclerosis patients.

World Championships medals

*2003 World Championships in Gainesville - fifth place, K1 500m
*2002 World Championships in Seville - bronze medal, K-1 500m
*2002 World Championships in Seville - bronze medal, K-1 1000m
*2001 World Championships in Poznań - gold medal, K-1 500m
*2001 World Championships in Poznań - gold medal, K-1 1000m
*1999 World Championships in Milan - silver medal, K-1 200m
*1999 World Championships in Milan - silver medal, K-1 500m
*1999 World Championships in Milan - silver medal, K-1 1000m
*1998 World Championships in Szeged - gold medal, K-1 1000m
*1998 World Championships in Szeged - silver medal, K-1 200m
*1998 World Championships in Szeged - bronze medal, K-1 500m
*1997 World Championships in Dartmouth - silver medal, K-1 200m
*1997 World Championships in Dartmouth - silver medal, K-1 500m
*1997 World Championships in Dartmouth - silver medal, K-1 1000m
*1994 World Championships in Mexico City - bronze medal, K-1 500m
*1991 World Championships in Paris - gold medal, K-1 5000m
*1991 World Championships in Paris - bronze medal, K-1 500m
*1990 World Championships in Poznań - gold medal, K-1 500m
*1990 World Championships in Poznań - silver medal, K-1 5000m
*1989 World Championships in Plovdiv - bronze medal, K-1 500m
*1989 World Championships in Plovdiv - bronze medal, K-1 5000m

External links

* [http://www.josefaidem.info Official site of Josefa Idem]

References

*cite web | author=Infostrada Sports | year=2004 | title=Josefa Idem, 2004 Olympics official bio | format= | work= | url=http://www.athens2004.com/en/ParticipantBiography?pid=1730059 | accessdate=2006-04-12 ( [http://66.249.93.104/search?q=cache:ewVQCBs4dMsJ:www.athens2004.com/en/ParticipantBiography%3Fpid%3D1730059+Josefa+Idem+athens2004.com&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1 cached version available] )
*cite web | author=Italian Wikipedia | year=2006 | title=Josefa Idem | format= | work= | url=http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josefa_Idem| accessdate=2006-04-12