Zátopek, Špotáková, Krpálek. Golden moments of the Summer Olympics

Through archival images, we can recall the often dramatic, but always extremely emotional stories of Olympic gold medals from the Summer Olympics, from the beginning of the modern Olympics to the present day. The main characters are Emil Zátopek, Hans Zdražila, Milena Duchková, Věra Čáslavská, Vítězslav Mácha and others.

Read also

Unfortunately, the radio archive regarding the Olympic Games is far from complete. In the 1950s, reporters went abroad only sporadically. That is why we have no record from Melbourne in 1956, but a number of archival images from Rome from 1960 are missing, where our gymnast Eva Bosáková or Bohumil Němeček won gold in boxing, for example.

Even the Olympic Games did not escape political influences in the form of terrorist attacks and boycotts. These are dramatic and tragic moments that marked the lives and sports careers of thousands of athletes from all over the world.

Read also

We will also move to more recent times and remember the achievements of Lukáš Krpálek, who won gold in judo at the Olympics in Rio in 2016 and Tokyo in 2020, and Barbora Špotáková, who triumphed in the javelin throw at the Beijing Games in 2008 and London in in 2012.

Let’s also remember other Czech legends, such as Jan Železný, who won gold in the javelin in Barcelona in 1992, Atlanta in 1996 and Sydney in 2000, and Martin Doktor, who won two gold medals in canoeing at the Olympics in Atlanta in in 1996.