CZECHOSLOVAK
HERITAGE
ANNIVERSARY YEARS
OF THE JOINT CZECH AND SLOVAK
OLYMPIC TEAMS
1964
GAMES OF THE XVIII OLYMPIAD, TOKYO
In 1964, the Olympic Games moved to the Asian continent for the first time in their history. The first host city on the continent was Tokyo, though 24 years after the Games were originally planned to take place in 1940. The Tokyo Games were characterised by perfect organisation and became proof of Japan’s enormous post-war economic and technological rise. The recently war-torn country had literally risen from the ashes within a few years. The Games’ message of peace became ubiquitous, and their sporting level surpassed all previous ones. This is also shown by the breaking of most Olympic records there and the setting 35 world records.
The Olympic Games in Tokyo also added 13 new disciplines; for example, volleyball was contested for the first time. The biggest heroes of Tokyo 1964 were American swimmer Donald Schollander and Czechoslovak sports gymnast Věra Čáslavská. Čáslavská became the darling of the Japanese audience, who wildly applauded her gymnastic sets. The Czechoslovak team brought home five gold, six silver and three bronze medals and finished in tenth place in the unofficial classification of countries.
OFFICIAL POSTERS
Again several versions of the posters were designed for the first Games held on the Asian continent. The main version, designed by the painter Yusaku Kamekura, reproduced the motif of the Japanese flag and the Olympic rings with the inscription “Tokyo 1964”. A series of posters depicting several Olympic sports was also presented here for the first time.
MAJOR FIGURES IN BRIEF
VĚRA ČÁSLAVSKÁ
(1942–2016)
Czechoslovak sports gymnast, coach and sports official. Holder of 11 Olympic medals, including 7 gold in individual competitions. Four-time world champion and eleven-time European champion. President of the Czechoslovak Olympic Committee and member of the International Olympic Committee. A holder of the Pierre de Coubertin Award (1989) and of the Olympic Council (1991).
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MAJOR FIGURES IN BRIEF
FRANTIŠEK VODSLOŇ
(1906–2002)
Official and politician, President of the Czechoslovak Olympic Committee from 1958 – 1967. One of the four members of the National Assembly who refused to vote to accept the treaty on the temporary stay of Soviet troops in the territory of the Czechoslovakia after 1968. A signatory of Charter 77, he was active in dissent during normalization.
MAJOR FIGURES IN BRIEF
FRANTIŠEK KROUTIL
(1907–1987)
Czechoslovak mountaineer, journalist, sports official, photographer and lawyer. Long-time Secretary General of the Czechoslovak Olympic Committee, head of the international department of the Czechoslovak Union of Physical Education and a member of the International Olympic Committee. In response to the occupation of Czechoslovakia in August 1968, he unsuccessfully tried to prevent the participation of Soviet athletes in the Olympics in Mexico.
MAJOR FIGURES IN BRIEF
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JOSEF GRUSS
(1884–1968),
Physician, versatile athlete, sports official. President of the Czechoslovak Sports Community for many years. Member of the International Olympic Committee and second President of the Czechoslovak Olympic Committee. He was among the first Czech representatives in ice hockey and also worked in fencing organisations.
MAJOR FIGURES IN BRIEF
KAREL KNĚNICKÝ
(1908–1995)
Sprinter, decathlete, referee, coach and teacher, record holder and several times champion of Czechoslovakia. A participant at the interwar Olympic Games in Amsterdam and Berlin, and later a delegate of Czechoslovak teams to the Olympic Games in Melbourne, Rome and Tokyo. Long-time chairman of the International Commission of the Athletics Federation and member of the IAAF Council.
MAJOR FIGURES IN BRIEF
ANTON URBAN
(1934 -2021)
Czechoslovak football player, coach and official. Captain of the silver-medal winning Czechoslovak football team from the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo. He was the holder of the Ján Popluhár Award – the highest Slovak fair play award – for his lifelong work in line with the principles of humanism and in the spirit of fair play. It was awarded to him by the Slovak Olympic and Sports Committee. He received the Ivan Chodák Fair Play Award from the Slovak Football Association (SFZ) along with the SFZ Golden Badge and became a member of the Slovak Football Hall of Fame of Fame.
MAJOR FIGURES IN BRIEF
RUDOLF VYTLAČIL
(1912–1977)
Football player and coach; he also coached the Czechoslovak national team and was behind the success of Czechoslovak football players at the World Championships in Chile in 1962 and at the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 1964. The Czechoslovak football team won silver medals at both tournaments.
MAJOR FIGURES IN BRIEF
LUDVÍK DANĚK
Czechoslovak discus thrower and coach; holder of a complete set of Olympic medals; a participant of the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Mexico, Munich and Montreal. In 1992, he was elected president of the Czech Club of Olympians. Holder of the Olympic Order (1995) and the Pierre de Coubertin Medal (1998).
MAJOR FIGURES IN BRIEF
MARIANNA NÉMETHOVÁ – KRAJČÍROVÁ
(1948)
Czechoslovak sports gymnast, participant in three Olympic Games, world champion, coach, Slovak gymnast of the 20th century. She was the youngest competitor on the Czechoslovak team at the Games of the XVIII Olympiad in 1964 in Tokyo. She won two Olympic silver medals in the team competition (1964 and 1968). She achieved individual success at the 1967 European Championships, winning bronze medals in the women’s all-around and the uneven bars.
MAJOR FIGURES IN BRIEF
BOHUMIL GOLIAN
(1931 –2012
Czechoslovak volleyball player, university teacher, coach and sports official. The best Slovak volleyball player of the 20th century played for the Czechoslovak national team for 13 years. He was a two-time Olympic medallist (silver at the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo, bronze at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico), a two-time world champion (1956, 1966) and a European champion (1958). At the Olympics in Mexico City, he was honoured to be the flag bearer of the Czechoslovak team at the Games’ opening ceremony. A holder of the Pierre de Coubertin medal (2006).
MEDAILÓNY OSOBNOSTÍ
JOZEF LABUDA
(1941)
Czechoslovak volleyball player, world champion in 1966. During the morning warm-up prior to the opening match of the Czechoslovak volleyball players at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, roommate Boris Perušič noticed a change in the white of Labuda’s eye. A quick examination by doctors confirmed the suspicion of jaundice. He was isolated in an infectious disease ward, and afterwards only the television screen provided him with contact with Olympic competition. From the room, he rejoiced from a distance with his teammates for winning second place. Before leaving the Olympic village, coach Josef Brož hung a silver Olympic medal around his neck in front of the team as recognition for the completed pre-Olympic training. In 2019, Labuda was inducted into the Slovak Volleyball Hall of Fame.
