PRAGUE: When Vera Caslavska bowed her head and turned away in protest at the Soviet anthem during the 1968 Olympics, the Czech gymnast cemented her place as not only one of the country’s greatest athletes but also as a powerful voice against Communist rule.
Two months after Warsaw Pact tanks swept into Czechoslovakia to crush the ‘Prague Spring’ reforms, the anti-Soviet icon dazzled at the Mexico Games, claiming four golds and becoming one of only two women to win successive titles in the all-around competition.
Yet it was her silent moment of defiance as the anthem played during the medal ceremony for the floor exercise, when she controversially shared a joint gold with a Soviet athlete after the judges upgraded the preliminary scores of her rival that endeared her to Czechs.
“We Olympians were the only ones who could demonstrate our attitude to the Soviet occupation to the world at that time of occupation,” Caslavska said in a 2007 interview.
All together, Caslavska took seven golds in her two Olympic Games, including back-to-back wins in the vault. She also won the beam at Tokyo 1964 and the uneven bars in 1968.
Caslavska was also the first and only gymnast to win an all-around title at an Olympic Games before winning it at the World Championships, European Championships and ensuing Olympics.
Her main rival in Tokyo, Larisa Latynina, was the only other female gymnast to win successive golds in the all-round competition, in 1956 and 1960.
“She was a phenomenal sportswoman,” Latynina said after Caslavska died in 2016 from pancreatic cancer. “Vera and I were friends and we would give each other presents. We would also swap vinyl records.”
Czech authorities, however, nearly stopped Caslavska’s journey to Mexico City in its tracks after she publicly opposed Soviet rule by signing a dissident manifesto in the spring of 1968.
Forced to hide in the mountains to avoid arrest, the gymnast only gained permission to compete at the last minute.
During her time in hiding, she lifted potato sacks to keep fit and substituted logs for beams to prepare for the games where her dominant performances and decision to use the Mexican Hat Dance as music for one of her routines won the adoration of the local fans.
Caslavska topped off her remarkable Olympics by marrying Czech 1,500 metres champion Josef Odlozil in Mexico City, 24 hours after her competition ended, in an event that drew thousands.
Published in Dawn, May 4th, 2020
