Czech NOC Celebrates 120th Anniversary, Honors Legends

(ATR) Celebrating its 120-year association with the Olympic Movement, the Czech Olympic Committee hosted a special anniversary concert on Monday.

The gala concert, held at theRudolfinum in Prague, drew internationally renowned musicians and Czech Olympians.

Prior to the performance, entitled Masters to the Masters, four legendary Czech athletes were honored for their outstanding contribution to sport and society.

The recipients were three-time Olympic javelin champion and former IOC member Jan Zelezny; Olympic gymnastics champion, former president of Czech NOC and IOC member Vera Caslavska; 1920 Olympic gymnast and World War II Nazi resistance leader Frantisek Pechacek; and Olympic rowing champion and president of the Czech Olympic Foundation Oldrich Svojanovsky.

Czech NOC president Jiri Kejval presented the awards. Caslavska’s was accepted by her daughter Radka and Pechacek’s by his grandnephew Jan.

"We want to appreciate people that are not just top athletes, they’ve done something more for the country," Kejval tells Around the Rings at the evening affair in Prague.

"Among Olympians and athletes there were, and still are, many brave people who do not hesitate to voice their opinion when they feel and see injustice. Sport helped to form our nation; sport unites our nation and helps to represent it abroad.

"Vera Caslavska was an incredible woman," Kejval said, elaborating about her staunch opposition and protests against the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968.

"There is such an incredible story behind her, not only in sports, but she was also very influential, a true woman who did everything 100 percent," he said. "She was a true democrat and was forced to finish her career because of the regime."

Zelezny, the four-time Olympic javelin medalist who became an IOC Athletes’ Commission representative in 1996 and served as an IOC member between 1999-2001 and 2004-2012, spoke fondly of his time and engagement with the IOC.

"I have good memories – the athletes voted for me to be an IOC member and this was a very special moment for me," Zelezny tells ATR. "I still have many friends in the IOC – for example Prince Albert. I saw him for the first time in Moscow in the gym as I was preparing for a competition and I thought ‘I know him, I know him.’ Afterwards, I realized it who it was."

Zelezny said it is important that Athletes Commissions have made tremendous strides since his days as a member.

"They have a much better voice now," Zelezny said. "It started with president Samaranch and also in athletics with Primo Nebiolo. Sometimes athletes don’t understand officials and officials don’t understand what athletes need. The commissions can translate what is best for the athletes and their future, the sport and the disciplines."

European Olympic Committees President Janez Kocijančič was also in attendance on Monday evening in the Czech capital, commending Kejval for his leadership of the Czech NOC.

Kejval, who will be voting in his first Olympic host city election next week in Lausanne, said he often leans on the Olympic javelin legend considering Zelezny’s vast IOC experience.

"We’re quite often talking about the movement and the direction it is going in all aspects – talking about doping, the IOC administration, trends in terms of marketing and he has even advised me about the votes as I prepare for my first," Kejval said.

The 120th anniversary celebrations will continue with a book about the history of the Czech Olympic Committee and Czech sports set to be published later this month. Another project named Stories of our Olympians, supported by the EOC, is also being launched. The project connects former athletes with young people, who record the athletes’ life stories for future generations

Founded in 1899, the Czech Olympic Committee is one of the oldest NOCs. It was transformed into the Czechoslovak Olympic Committee in 1919 and reconstituted under its original name in 1992, being formally recognized by the IOC once again in 1993.

The founder of the Czech NOC, Jiri Stanislav Guth-Jarkovsky, was also one of the original members of the IOC and a co-author of the Olympic Charter.

Written and reported by Brian Pinelli in Prague

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