Čáslavská, Věra

▪ Czech gymnast

born May 3, 1942, Prague, Czechoslovakia [now in Czech Republic]

 

  Czech gymnast, who won a total of 35 medals, including 22 gold medals, at the Olympic Games and at world and European championships in the 1950s and '60s.

      Čáslavská began her athletic career as a figure skater, but at age 15 she turned to gymnastics, first appearing in international competition at the 1958 world championships, where she won a silver medal in the team event. She won the balance beam at the 1959 European championships and finished a close second to the Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina (Latynina, Larisa Semyonovna) at the 1962 world championships. Čáslavská placed first overall in gymnastics at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, also taking gold medals in the balance beam and the vault (vaulting). At the 1965 and 1967 European championships, she won every women's gymnastic event. At the 1966 world championships, she contributed to the Czech team's victory over the Soviets, winning the gold in the combined exercises.

      In June 1968 Čáslavská signed the "Two Thousand Words," a document that called for more rapid progress toward real democracy in Czechoslovakia. After Soviet tanks entered Prague in August of that year, Čáslavská, facing possible arrest for her political stance, fled to the mountain village of Šumperk. She was granted permission to rejoin the Olympic team only a few weeks before the 1968 Summer Games opened in Mexico City. There she dominated the gymnastics competition, winning gold medals in the individual all-around, the vault, the uneven parallel bars, and the floor exercise and silver medals in the balance beam and team competition. The day after winning her last gold medal, Čáslavská capped her Olympic career by marrying Josef Odloil, a Czechoslovakian middle-distance runner.

      As a result of her political convictions, Čáslavská fell out of favour with the Czech authorities and was initially refused employment. She was eventually allowed to coach the national gymnastics team. After the collapse of communist rule in 1989, Čáslavská became president of the Czechoslovakian Olympic Committee. When the union with Slovakia was dissolved in 1993, she was named president of the Czech Olympic Committee. From 1995 to 2001 she was a member of the International Olympic Committee.

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