Vera Caslavska, the most successful Czech Olympian of all time, succumbed on the evening of 30th August to the prolonged illness she had been bravely fighting.

Vera, born in May 1942, was a living sports legend, one of former Czechoslovakia’s most famous sportswomen, one of the greatest of her generation, gymnastics being her passion since she was a little girl.

Olympic Champion in Gymnastics several times over, she provided the strongest challenge to the dominant Soviet Union throughout the 1960s: In 1960 in Rome she won a team silver medal in combined exercises. In 1964 in Tokyo she won 3 individual Gold medals, for combined exercises, vault and balance beam, and a silver team medal for combined exercises
In 1968 in Mexico City she won 4 individual Gold medals for combined exercises, vault, asymmetric bars and floor exercises, and silver team medals for combined exercises and balance beam

In the same year as the Mexico City Olympics, she did not hesitate to sign the “Two Thousand Words” Petition against the Soviet invasion of her country. This act earned her exile in her own country, cut off from her world of sport.

It wasn’t until 1989 that she found her place in sport again, when she also covered various posts, including that of advisor to President Vaclav Havel.

Vera has been a member of the National and the International Gymnastics Federations, president of the Czechoslovakian NOC, from 1990 to 1993, and president of the Czech Olympic Committee, from 1993 to 1996.

She has been a member of the IOC from 1995 to 2001, when she retired to private life. In 2002 the EOC awarded to her the Order of Merit, their highest decoration.

To commemorate this sport legend, the Czech Olympic Committee together with the ministry of education, youth and sports, will organise an act of memorial “Remembering Věra” on Monday 12th September 2016 at the Prague national theatre.

The EOC extend their heartfelt condolences to her NOC and family.