Vancouver 2010: Czechs send record team to Olympics

With the Winter Olympics opening Feb. 12, this year's Czech squad boasts 92 members, a record high, along with 96 others who will travel with the team as support staff.

While snow levels in Western Canada remain low, and worried organizers are busy trucking in snow, Czech hopes are high, with several realistic medal contenders. Speed skater Martina Sáblíková is the favorite in the 1,500 m, 3,000 m and 5,000 m events and perhaps the most high-profile Czech athlete at these games.

The bulk of the Czech team traveled to Vancouver Feb. 5.

Canadian organizers are expected to spend $1.76 billion (32.6 billion Kč) on this year's games, the third Olympics hosted by the Canadians. Vancouver will be the main site of the games, but there will be venues in the suburban city of Richmond, while skiing and other events will take place in Whistler, a nearby Rocky Mountain resort town. The Opening Ceremony will be the first in Olympic history to be held indoors.

Winter Olympic gold winners

1968: Grenoble, France, Jiří Raška The Czech ski jumper won Czechoslovakia's first-ever Winter Olympic gold. His success was overshadowed by the hockey team's triumph over the Soviet Union. Even though the team only took silver, that win was by far the most celebrated event. In August, Warsaw Pact troops invaded
1972: Sapporo, Japan, Ondrej Nepela The Slovak figure skater beat favored Russian and U.S. skaters, despite falling on a triple Rittberger in his free program, to take gold for Czechoslovakia. He retired from competition a year later and spent the next 13 years skating in ice revues
1998: Nagano, Japan, Men's Hockey Team The team achieved the most celebrated triumph in the history of Czech sports. The games were the first to feature the world's best ice-hockey players from the NHL. En route to the gold, the Czechs beat the United States, Canada and Russia
2002: Salt Lake City, U.S.A., Aleš Valenta It took only a single jump for this Czech freestyle skier to achieve immortality. Valenta became the first skier to pull off five twists in an Olympic competition, and the trick nearly single-handedly earned him the win
2006: Turin, Italy, Kateřina Neumannová Going into the games, the most decorated cross-country skier in Czech history had won everything bar Olympic gold. In her last race, the women's
15 km, Neumannová
finally won

Nikola Sudová

Tomáš Kraus

Šárka Záhrobská

Men's hockey team

Martina Sáblíková

Lukáš Bauer

Czech Television will broadcast hours of coverage, though the nine-hour time difference with Vancouver does pose some additional challenges, said Otakar Černý, editor-in-chief of Czech Television's Sports Department. Events will be broadcast on both ČT2 and ČT4, and the broadcasts will include a blend of live and tape-delayed competitions. Everything will be broadcast in high definition.

"On both channels, we will show reports from the games, which will be shot by our staff there," Černý said. "This year, we have something to look forward to."

The cable channel Eurosport will broadcast the games in English.

The Winter Olympics have been staged since 1924, the first being held in Chamonix, France. The Vancouver Games are the fifth Winter Olympics for the independent Czech Republic.

The Czech Republic and Czechoslovakia have won 35 Winter Olympic medals, but only five golds. Kateřina Neumannová is the most successful Czech Winter Olympian; she has won six medals in cross-country skiing, including a gold medal at the Turin Games in 2006. The Czech Republic walked away with four medals at those games.

President Vacláv Klaus and Foreign Affairs Minister Jan Kohout have declined to attend the games as a result of a Canada's decision to re-impose visas on Czech citizens.

"It is unacceptable for Jan Kohout, as a private person, to apply for a visa to Canada," Kohout said in an interview with Czech Television.

Prime Minister Jan Fischer, two other Cabinet members and the chairs of both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate will attend. Fischer will also preside over the official opening of the Czech Olympic Village.

Enthusiasm is growing in other government quarters as well, as the Czech Post Office will issue a commemorative Olympic stamp with the picture of a speed skater Feb. 10. Another stamp will follow paying tribute to the Paralympics, which take place in March, also in Vancouver.

Olympic organizers were still scrambling as of press time to cope with snow shortages.

At Cypress Mountain, which will host snowboarding and freestyle skiing events, trucks and helicopters were moving in snow to cope with shortages. Practices for athletes had to be moved elsewhere as media were denied access to the site.

International Olympic Committee Chairman Jacques Rogge sought to quell speculation at a press conference Feb. 9.

"There is no concern, and there is no Plan B," Rogge said of speculation that some events may be delayed or forced to move to other venues.  

The contenders

Nikola Sudová, freestyle skiing

The 27-year-old mogul specialist has won twice on this season's World Cup circuit. Mid-January she suffered torn knee ligaments in while training. Doctors outfitted Sudová with a special knee brace. She competes Feb. 13.

Tomáš Kraus, freestyle skiing

A former alpine skier, Kraus, 36, was ski cross world champion in 2005 and 2007. He ranks first in this season's World Cup standings. Ski cross makes its Olympic debut in Vancouver pitting four racers simultaneously on the course. He takes to the slopes Feb. 21.

Šárka Záhrobská, alpine skiing

Záhrobská, 2007 world champion in the slalom, has medaled at the past three World Championships. The 24-year-old comeptes Feb. 23 during the second-to-last event of the games. She faces tough competition from the dominating American Lindsey Vonn.

Men's ice hockey team, ice hockey

The team ranks sixth in the International Hockey Federation rankings. Sixteen of the teams' players are in the NHL, including captain Patrik Eliáš. The team took bronze in the 2006 Turin Olympics and faces archrival Slovakia in the opening game Feb. 17.

Martina Sáblíková, speed skating

Sáblíková, 24, holds five World Championship golds and a silver in the 3,000 m, 5,000 m and all-around categories. She narrowly missed a medal at the 2006 games. She is seen as the most likely Czech medalist at this games. The 3,000 m final takes place Feb. 14, the 5,000 m final Feb. 24.

Lukáš Bauer, cross-country skiing

The 32-year-old took silver in the 15 km men's classic race in Turin. He finished second in the 2009 World Championships in the same race. He was the World Cup champion for the 2007-08 season. He competes in four races, but the 15 km race is Feb. 15.

Benjamin Cunningham can be reached at
bcunningham@praguepost.com