| FIS Nordic World Ski Championship Liberec 2009

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Our World Champions

12. 02 2009 15:00:00

(Liberec - Czech Press Agency, own) This year´s FIS Nordic World Ski Championships Liberec 2009 are the first in the history of the Czech Republic. Nevertheless, fighting for Championship medals already took place in the territory of the former Czechoslovakia last century. In 1925 Nordic World Ski Championships took place in Janske Lazne in the Krkonose Mountains; in 1970 cross-country races and ski jumping took place at Strbske Pleso in the High Tatra Mountains.

The then Czech athletes brought back with them the most precious medals from these championships. And what about Liberec? Are the best Czech athletes going to stick to tradition and get gold? Is Martin Koukal going to keep his Championship title from Val di Fiemme? Is Lukas Bauer going to get a gold medal? And what about our ski jumpers and Nordic combined contestants? Are they going to succeed in the beautiful Ski Jump Area in Jested? We have to wait only few more days to get answers to all these questions...

Czech and Czechoslovak World Champions in Nordic skiing

Nordic combined

Otakar Nemecky – Janske Lazne in 1925

Rudolf Burkert – Cortina d´Ampezzo in 1927

Ladislav Rygl – Strbske Pleso in 1970

Cross-country

Otakar Nemecky – 18 km – Janske Lazne in 1925

Franz Donth – 50 km – Janske Lazne in 1925

Martin Koukal – 50 km – Val di Fiemme in 2003

Katerina Neumannova – 10 km – Oberstdorf in 2005, and 10 km – Sapporo in 2007

Ski jumping

Willen Dick – Janske Lazne in 1925 – medium hill

Jiri Raska – Grenoble in 1968 – medium hill

Jiri Parma – Oberstdorf in 1987 – medium hill

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Otakar Nemecky (1902 - 1967)

Czechoslovak athlete in Nordic combined and cross-country skiing. He came from Nove Mesto na Morave. He brought a total of three medals from FIS Nordic World Ski Championships – in 1925 in Janske Lazne two gold medals in the Nordic combined and in an 18 km competition. In Cortinna d´Ampezzo he got silver in 1927.

Rudolf Burkert (1904 – 1985)

Czechoslovak athlete of German nationality, he competed in Nordic combined and ski jumping. He was born in Polubne in the Krkonose Mountains; after the war he wasn´t transferred to Germany and lived in Tanvald. He worked at a glass factory in Polubne. His greatest achievement was a medal at the 2nd Winter Olympic Games in St. Moritz where he got a silver medal in ski jumping with 57 m and 59.5 m jumps. He became World Champion in Nordic combined in 1927 (Cortina d´Ampezzo) and finished second in the World Championship in ski jumping in 1933. In 1968 he emigrated to West Germany where he died in 1985.

Franz Donth

He competed for Czechoslovakia in Nordic combined and cross-country skiing. In the World Championships in Janske Lazne in 1925 he got World Championship title in a 50 km race.

Willy Dick

Czechoslovak ski jumper; he got World Championship title on medium hill in Janske Lazne in 1928. He didn´t take part at the Winter Olympic Games in 1928 due to an injury.

Jiri Raska (born 4 February 1941 in Frenstat pod Radhostem)

Czech skier of the century and the only Czech male skier to have ever been awarded with a gold Olympic medal; namely at the Winter Olympic Games in Grenoble in 1968. For his victory at the Olympic Games he received a secret gift of CZK 10,000 and a TV set. As an Olympic amateur athlete he couldn´t accept the offered Skoda 1100MB car and so he drove the car under a factory registration plate for one year and later bought it with a discount. He trained under Zdenek Remsa and was a member of Dukla Liberec Team. Jiri Raska inspired Ota Pavel to write a fairy-tale called “A Fairy-tale about Raska” which the Naive Theatre in Liberec has put on stage as an icing on the cake for the Championships´ visitors to Liberec. Jiri Raska worked as a coach; last time he put on his skis in 1979 for a veterans´ race. He is Jan Mazoch´s grandfather.

Ladislav Rygl Sr.

Czechoslovak competitor in Nordic combined. He finished first in the World Championship at Strbske Pleso in 1970. After the jump he came 8th, but an excellent cross-country race brought him unexpected gold after combining both parts. He is the father of former Nordic combined contestant Ladislav Rygl Jr.

Jiri Parma (born 9 January 1963 in Frenstat pod Radhostem)

Czechoslovak ski jumper. Together with Pavel Ploc he had the biggest share in the success of Czech ski jumpers in the 1980s. He participated at three Olympic Games; in Calgary he missed a medal by a mere couple of metres and he finished fifth. His greatest success was the 1st place in the World Championship in Oberstdorf, Germany in 1987 where he defeated the then Finnish legend Matti Nykanen among others.

Martin Koukal (born 25 September 1978 in Nove Mesto Morave)

Czech World Champion in cross-country 50 km competition; he got the Championship title in Val di Fiemme in 2003. In the same year he also became “King of the White Trail”. He is the only present active Czech World Champion and he will start in Liberec too. Apart from cross-country skiing he likes conquering high mountains; he enjoys climbing peaks over 8,000 metres without an oxygen mask (Cho Oyu 8,201 metres in 2004).

Katerina Neumannova (born 2 February 1973 in Pisek)

A multiple Queen of the While Trail, the most successful skier in the history of Czech sport. During her career she took part in five Winter Olympic Games; she brought back one gold, four silver and one bronze medals. She is also Junior World Champion from 1993. In 2005 she got World Championship title in a 10 km free technique competition in Oberstdorf, Germany and she defended the title in Sapporo, Japan in 2007.

(mh; in collaboration with Czech Press Agency)