Vancouver 2010: Olympic chief predicts Medal haul of four at least

Milan Jirásek has been the president of the Czech Olympic Committee since 1996, and Prague played host to the International Olympic Committee meeting in 2003 that chose Vancouver as the host city for this year's games, which begin Feb. 12. Jirásek sat down with The Prague Post for an interview on the eve of the 2010 Olympics, and he said, among other things, that Czech athletes should win at least four medals this year.

The Prague Post: The Czech team in Vancouver is the largest in the country's Winter Olympics history. Is it also the strongest?

Milan Jirásek: Absolutely, although it's tricky to predict success in sports. We can say the Czech team's ambitions are perhaps the biggest in history. There have never been Czech medal contenders going into the Winter Games as promising as there are now.

TPP: Are you referring to speed skater Martina Sáblíková, who could win at least two gold medals?

Jirásek

MJ: Sáblíková is obviously the hottest Czech medal contender. I don't want to speculate, but it's clear that never before in the history of the Winter Games have we had such a hot contender for grabbing the gold as Sáblíková. But she is not the only one.

TPP: Do you see any dark horses on this Czech team?

MJ: Keep an eye on speed skater Karolína Erbanová. She is very much in Sáblíková's shadow but has risen fast over the past few months. It wasn't that long ago that she was scoring goals in women's hockey. Now, she is among the world's top speed skaters. She's got all the potential to surprise.

TPP: Still, don't the hockey results usually determine whether fans perceive the Olympics as successful?

MJ: Well, the hockey team's games catch most people attention. This year will be no exception.

TPP: The generation of hockey players that won gold medals at World Championships and also won the 1998 Winter Games in Nagano is gone, and the team's leader, Jaromír Jágr, is already 37. Aren't the team's chances of success fewer than in the past?

MJ: Right. But the new players are hungry to succeed. And, you have to bear in mind, even in Nagano, we needed a solid dose of good luck to win. I don't think we can count on winning a medal in the hockey tournament, because competition there will be tough. That said, if our team enjoys some good luck again, anything can happen.

TPP: Is there a clear benchmark of whether the Czech team is a success or failure in Vancouver?

MJ: There is no real benchmark. But four medals would be a success.

TPP: But didn't the Czech team win four medals in Turin four year ago, with a much smaller team?

MJ: Right, but the competition has grown since then. Four medals would prove we hold a strong position.

František Bouc can be reached at
fbouc@praguepost.com