Soon after, legendary javelin thrower Jan Železn˘, who took three consecutive Olympic gold medals from 1992 to 2000, made his last competitive toss in Germany Sept. 9. That same day, in a U.S. Open mixed-doubles match, Martina Navrátilová won her 59th Grand Slam title — but it was the final major tournament of her career. Former Czech men's No. 1 Jifií Novák was bounced from his last major a few days before.

Meanwhile, future hockey hall-of-famer Dominik Hašek and cross-country Olympic champion Katefiina Neumannová are preparing for their final seasons.

The mass retirements and withdrawals from international competition of stars comes at a time when many sports lack successful and charismatic younger athletes to take their places, and has administrators worried that the country may be years away from returning to athletic prominence.

"Czech sports are going through a change of generations," Czech Olympic Committee Chairman Milan Jirásek said. "The number of star athletes retiring indicates the beginning of a new era in Czech sports, and, although there are many promising talents with great potential, we may well have to wait some time for them to reach the success of the departing legends."

While officials of most sports associations agreed that they would be able to fill the gaps in the short term, the marketing impacts of the legends' departures could hurt.

"I'm not afraid that we will lose sponsors," Jirásek said. "But it's obvious that there is just one Neumannová and one Železn˘, and it'll take a long time before any other Czech athlete can build up such a strong public image."

Cash worries

Marketing experts said that the departures of icons could lower sponsors' interest in sports.

"Sponsors are mostly attracted by the likelihood of [their brands] appearing in the media, and that is mostly determined by the results of particular athletes in top competitions," said Tomáš Svátek, a market researcher with Factum.

The departures come when sports funding already faces a crisis. The Czech Physical Training Association (ČSTV) requested last spring that the government pay bigger subsidies to sports.

Last year, sports associations under the ČSTV received 638 million Kč ($28.4 million) in direct state subsidies and another 509 million Kč from lottery company Sazka, which is bound by law to subsidize sports. Still, ČSTV management insisted it was short on cash.

"Although the budget of the Education and Sports Ministry has been growing, annual subsidies to sports have remained the same," said ČSTV Chairman Vladimír Srb.

Srb also lamented the 2005 ruling that made it impossible for Sazka to get value-added tax (VAT) refunds and delivered a major blow to sports financing. Sazka's CEO Aleš Hušák said that the company had to cut sports subsidies by about 250 million Kč in 2005 due to the loss of VAT refunds.

The cash-strapped government is unlikely to increase subsidies to sports in 2006, and neither will Sazka. Still, ČOV chairman Jirásek remains upbeat.

"Private corporations traditionally find great value in sponsoring sports, and this will continue, even in the future," Jirásek said.

Rays of light

Despite the possible short-term absence of sports icons, the recent results of a few young athletes give some hope for the future.

Only a few days after Novák's swan song against Spain's Rafael Nadal at the U.S. Open, 18-year-old Dušan Lojda triumphed in the juniors' singles division, becoming the first Czech junior to ever win the event.

"Now, I'll be working as hard as possible, and, hopefully, other achievements will come," Lojda said.

Similarly, hours after javelin thrower Železn˘ won a bronze medal in his last major international competition in the European Outdoor Championship in August, young female thrower Barbora Špotáková took a silver medal in women's category.

The future looks the brightest for the Czech national ice hockey team.

Many stars, including Hašek and forward Jaromír Jágr, announced their retirement from the team after the Winter Olympics in February. But, a younger Czech team was still able to advance to the World Championship finals in May.