Wlodarczyk stayed involved in sports into her teenage and adult years for economic and political reasons.

“Because of the Iron Curtain we couldn’t travel much,” she said. “It was an opportunity to travel and I always wanted to do that.”

As part of the Polish team from age 22 to 24, training and competing consumed Wlodarczyk’s life. By the time of the 1980 games, she earned her Olympic rings—thus securing a spot on the Polish Olympic team.

“You have to sacrifice everything to be good in sports, you really have to work hard to go to the Olympics,” Wlodarczyk explained.

She took fourth in the 1980 games in Moscow, and was considered a favorite to win the long jump going to the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. However, a month before they were to leave for the games, the team found out they would not be allowed to compete in Los Angeles. Poland boycotted the Los Angeles games because of their bad political relations with the United States at that time. Wlodarczyk was forced to watch the athletes compete on television, thousands of miles away.

Anisoara Cusmir-Stanciu of Romania won the long jump gold with a jump of 6.96 m., matching Wlodarczyk’s most recent personal best. This was by far the biggest heartbreak of her career, she said.

Her last track meet on the Polish National Team was February 1985. At 33, Wlodarczyk won the national title at the Polish Indoor Nationals and decided it was time move on with her life and try something new.

After setting aside her competitive career, Wlodarczyk earned her Ph.D. in physical education, and began teaching the Academy of Physical Education in Warsaw, Poland.

“I love books and higher education,” she said. “I am always hungry for knowing more about the world—not just sports.”

Wlodarczyk’s craving for knowledge and experience led her to the United States, where she began a new teaching and coaching career at Chapman University in 1993.