Jágr honored by President Klaus

Star hockey forward Jaromír Jágr became the 12th athlete to receive a Medal of Merit, given annually by the president on Czechoslovak Independence Day, Oct. 28.

Jágr was the only athlete in the 22-member group of recipients selected by President Václav Klaus this year. Among them were war veterans, rescuers, scientists and artists.

"I never thought I could receive such an honor. It's a great privilege for me," Jágr said.

Jágr became the fourth hockey player to receive the state award, after Dominik Hašek, Ivan Hlinka and Augustin Bubník. Hašek received the honor in 1998 after he backed the Czech team to a historic gold medal at the 1998 Nagano Olympics.

Hlinka, who guided the Olympics winning team, became the first European coach in North America's National Hockey League (NHL). Bubník was a front man of the Czechoslovak team that won the World Championships in 1946 and whose players were jailed the following year by the Communists for alleged treason. Bubník was sent to work in a uranium mine.

In contrast to his predecessor, Václav Havel, Klaus has been known for choosing athletes. Of the 12 athletes decorated by presidents in the country's modern era, Klaus has chosen nine of them.

The 38-year-old Jágr is arguably the country's best hockey player of all time. Although he spent scant time playing in his native country, as he moved to the NHL in the early 1990s, he remains a national hero.

In 1998, Jágr teamed with Hašek at the Nagano Olympics. In 2005, Jágr also led the Czech team to the World Championship title. The team won that trophy again this year with Jágr as captain. In 1,273 NHL games between 1990 and 2008, Jágr scored 646 goals and had 953 assists.

Since his surprising move from the New York Rangers to Avantgard Omsk in Russia's Continental League (KHL) in the summer of 2008, Jágr has been on the downside of his career and has been struggling to find his way this season in the KHL. The five-time winner of the NHL's Art Ross Trophy for the most productive player failed to score a single goal or assist for six consecutive KHL games in October.

The decision to include Jágr among this year's 22 winners did not come without controversy, with some saying Jágr did not deserve the award. Jágr himself admitted surprise.

"I'm just an athlete. ... There are people who deserve the award much more than I do," he said.

Among the previous award recipients are celebrities often close to the president. Jágr said, however, that he did not have any close ties with Klaus.

"I met with him only several times in the past, but it was mostly at tennis tournaments because he prefers tennis to hockey," Jágr said, adding that he had never played tennis against Klaus.

"I would've had to let him win, and I don't like losing," Jágr said.

Still, Jágr surely scored points with Klaus because of his regular financial support of the center-right Civic Democratic Party (ODS), which was founded by Klaus in the early 1990s.

Jágr said he had learned about the nomination for the state award only two weeks before the ceremony and had to get a tuxedo at the last minute.

"I no longer have the one I used to wear during NHL ceremonies, and I didn't have time to buy a new one. So I had to ask a friend to [get] one for me somewhere," Jágr said.

Despite Jágr's unconvincing performance in the KHL this season, the famous forward could once again chase a medal with the national team at the World Championship in Slovakia in early 2011.

The Czech National Team's Head Coach Alois Hadamczik hinted that Jágr is an automatic choice for the team.

"I went to see him in Russia, and he told me he was interested in playing on the Czech team," Hadamczik said. "While no one can stop aging, Jágr is still a big player."

František Bouc can be reached at
fbouc@praguepost.com