Věra Čáslavská

✶May 3, 1942

†August 30, 2016

Czech Republic

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About their life

Věra Čáslavská was born in Prague in 1942 and came to gymnastics from figure skating and ballet, bringing a dancer's line to the sport. She rose to the top of world gymnastics in the early 1960s, and at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics she won three gold medals, including the coveted all-around title, dethroning the long-dominant Soviet gymnasts.

In 1968 she signed the Two Thousand Words manifesto supporting the Prague Spring, and after the Soviet-led invasion she trained in hiding before travelling to the Mexico City Olympics. There she won four more golds, and on the podium she bowed her head and turned away during the Soviet anthem, a silent protest seen around the world. She returned home a heroine to her people and a problem to the regime.

Barred for years from coaching and public life for refusing to retract her stance, she was vindicated after 1989, serving as an adviser to President Václav Havel and as president of the Czech Olympic Committee. She died of pancreatic cancer in Prague in 2016. Her legacy pairs perfection with principle: seven Olympic golds, and a conscience that would not bend.

Czech gymnast who won seven Olympic gold medals and, at the 1968 Games, quietly protested the Soviet invasion of her homeland at the cost of her career.

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Biography from the article Věra Čáslavská on the English Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.