Footsteps of pedestrians from Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia at the modern Olympic Games (1896 - 2016)

This year from July 30 to August 7 the athletic part XXXII will take place. 8.8 Olympic Games, translated due to a coronavirus pandemic; it is only the third time in 125 years that the regular four-year interval has been disrupted (1916 and 1940 due to the world wars). And it will also be 85 years since the first start of the Czech pedestrian on this worldwide sports holiday.

Fifteen Olympic representatives (4 women and 11 men) are listed in the following statistical section.

1936 Berlin             Jaroslav Štork-Žofka, 1909 - 50 km 4th place 4: 34: 00.2 h

1952 Helsinki          Josef Doležal, 1920 - 50 km 2nd place 4: 30: 17.8 h

1956 Melbourne      Josef Doležal, 1920 - 20 km DQ and 50 km DNF; Svatopluk Sýkora, 1925 - 50 km DNF; Milan Skřont, 1930 - 50 km DNF

1960 Rome                  Ladislav Moc, 1931 - 20 km 8th place 1: 38: 32,4 h and 50 km 11th place; Josef Doležal, 1920, 50 km 17th place

1964 Tokyo               Alexander Bílek, 1941 - 20 km 11th place and 50 km 20th place

1996Atlanta             Jiří Malysa, 1966 - 20 km 25th place; Miloš Holuša, 1965 - 50 km 27th place; Tomáš Kratochvíl, 1971 - 20 km 48th place; Hubert Sonnek, 1962 - 20 km 52nd place and 50 km DNF

2000 Sydney            Miloš Holuša, 1965 - 50 km 16th place; Jiří Malysa, 1966 20 km 19th place

2004 Athens               Barbora Dibelková, 1983 - 20 km 24th place; Miloš Holuša, 1965 - 50 km 38th place; Jiří Malysa, 1966 - 20 km DQ

2008 Beijing              Roman Bílek, 1967 - 50 km 45th place, Zuzana Schindlerová, 1986 - 20km 27th place 

2012 London             Lucie Pelantová, 1986 - 20 km 35th place 

2016/XNUMX/XNUMX Rio de Janeiro  Anežka Drahotová, 1995 - 20 km 10th place 1:30:46 h

Czechs who were already citizens of the Slovak Republic also competed at the Olympics: 1980 in Moscow Jaromír Vaňous, 1955 and others in 1984, 1988, 1992 and 1996 Roman Mrázek, 1962; both from Dukla Banská Bystrica, where the best pedestrians from all over Czechoslovakia came under optimal training conditions.

On XXXII. This year's Tokyo Olympics, for climatic reasons (to make it colder), the pedestrian races take place in Sapporo, 800 km further north. (in recent days there is also 30 degrees C). The men's 20 km race will take place on August 5.8, the men's 50 km start in the evening on August 5.8, and 6.8. women will start 20 km (according to Central European Time). The races were nominated after meeting the performance conditions and placing in the pre-Olympic rankings (there are a large number of Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Spaniards, Italians and Germans, only the top three from each country were selected for the Olympics).

From the Czech Republic, 2 pedestrians and 2 pedestrians went through the selection: Pro 20 km women's race based on performances from 2019, the best Czech pedestrian of the last decade, in the ranking of 41. Anežka DRAHOTOVÁ, 1995, USK Prague, which Australian Brend Vallance has been training at a distance since last year (However, she will not start, because after an additional charge of doping at the 2018 European Championships, from which she was recently acquitted, she could not even race in the top preparing, so she didn't just want to go "on a trip")  and at 1:30:52 h (not in the top 22 in the ranking, 1991nd in Europe) a new walking star, former triathlete and marathon runner Tereza ĎURDIAKOVÁ, XNUMX, USK Prague, coach I. Piták. For the race for 50 km men this year's two-time champion of the Czech Republic Vít HLAVÁČ, 1997, AC TEPO Kladno, coach I. Piták, with a time of 3:52:54 h (not in the ranking, 42nd in the world, 22nd in Europe) and a long-time number one on foot Lukáš GDULA, 1991, Hvězda Pardubice, coach I. Piták, time 3:56:06 h (not in the ranking, 62nd in the world, 29th in Europe).

As the starting lists are not yet available, the opponents of our representatives are not known. The fact that 20 women covered 1 km under 30:33 h this year and another 30 men at 50 km has a time of 3:49:31 h testify to the low hopes for the leading position. Although the medals hang very high for them, they will certainly fight and try to give your peak performance.                           

According to available sources MUDr. Petr Brandejský