Czechs make historic showing

The Czech Olympic team made history at the Vancouver Olympics, which ended Feb. 28.

The Czechs won two gold medals and four bronze medals, making it the most successful Winter Olympics in Czech history. Never before had the Czech team won more medals in a single Winter Games, nor had a single athlete won more than one gold medal at a Winter Olympics.

Speed-skater Martina Sáblíková has become, at age 22, the most successful Czech athlete in the history of the Winter Olympics, taking home two gold medals and one bronze. Sáblíková completed her impressive Olympic run Feb. 24 after winning the 5,000 meters, a race she has lost only once in the past four years. A strong performance by Germany's Stephanie Beckert required Sáblíková to give it her all. Coach Petr Novák said he gave Sáblíková incorrect information about her times during the race.

"I was giving her slightly better times than she was reaching in order to prevent her from having doubts whether she could be as fast as Beckert," Novák said.

In the end, Sáblíková was 0.49 seconds faster than Beckert.

Sáblíková became the first Czech Olympian in 14 years to win two gold medals at a single games. (Canoeist Martin Doktor won two gold medals in the 1996 Atlanta Summer Games.) And she has become the first Czech in 42 years to walk away from a single games with three medals under her belt. (Gymnast Věra Čáslavská won six medals, including four gold and two silver, at the 1968 Summer Games in Mexico City.)

Bauer's bronze

Unlike Sáblíková, cross-country skier Lukáš Bauer failed to fulfill his dreams of gold in the men's 50-km race Feb. 28, finishing 12th. However, Bauer and three of his teammates (Martin Jakš, Jiří Magál and Martin Koukal) took an unexpected bronze medal in the men's 4x10-km relay Feb. 24. Jakš started slowly and passed the relay onto Bauer while the team trailed the leader by 27 seconds. Bauer pushed the Czech team into the top three teams, and Magál and Koukal finished the race in the third position.

"This medal was so exciting," Bauer said.

Apart from the relay, Bauer also won a bronze medal in the men's 15-km freestyle.

Záhrobská medals

Downhill skier Šárka Záhrobská lived up to her lofty ambitions in Vancouver, taking a bronze medal in the women's slalom Feb. 26. She became, after Olga Charvátová in 1984, only the second Czech Alpine skier to finish on the podium at a Winter Olympics. Despite wining only two World Cup races throughout her career, Záhrobská had won gold, silver and bronze medals at the World Championships.

"I cannot say which I value more: the gold medal from the World Championship or the Olympic bronze medal," Záhrobská said.

Hockey disillusion

The most watched event, the men's hockey tournament, brought disappointment. Having beaten Slovakia 3-1 and Latvia 5-2 before losing to Russia 4-2 in the group phase, the Czechs were caught in an unexpectedly tough battle with Latvia in the first playoff round. The Czechs drew 2-2 with Latvia after regulation time and then secured a spot in the quarterfinals against Finland thanks to David Krejčí's goal in overtime. In the quarterfinals, Czech team was halted by Finland 2-0 and failed to advance.

The frustrated players, some of whom experienced the memorable triumph at the 1998 Nagano Olympics, said after the game against Finland that the Czech hockey team lags behind the world's best teams.

"It's not accidental that our team is not counted among the favorites before major tournaments," said defenseman Pavel Kubina.

Veteran star Jaromír Jágr had a pessimistic prediction.

"The Czech team is unlikely to succeed in the Olympics or the World Championship any time soon," he said.

František Bouc can be reached at
fbouc@praguepost.com