She was not just an athlete but a resistance fighter: Who is Vera Caslavska?

Czech gymnast Vera Caslavska, who left her mark on the period with the 22 gold medals she won in international tournaments, especially in the 1950s and 60s, is the athlete who has won the most Olympic gold medals in her country, with 7 Olympic golds by winning 3 gold medals in Tokyo in 1964 and four gold medals in Mexico City in 1968. bears the title of being

Vera Caslavska was born in Prague on May 3, 1942. Although she started her career as a figure skater, she turned to gymnastics at the age of 15. She won her first international medal at the 1958 World Championships with a silver medal in the team competition. 

She won the gold medal on the balance beam at the 1959 European Championships and came second in the 1962 World Championships. 

Věra Čáslavská (3 May 1942 – 30 August 2016) was a Czechoslovak artistic gymnast and Czech sports official. She won a total of 22 international titles between 1959 and 1968 including seven Olympic gold medals, four world titles and eleven European championships. Čáslavská is the most decorated Czech gymnast in history and is one of only two female gymnasts, along with Soviet Larisa Latynina, to win the all-around gold medal at two consecutive Olympics.[2] She remains the only gymnast, male or female, to have won an Olympic gold medal in each individual event. She was also the first gymnast to achieve perfect 10 at a major competition in the post-1952 era. She holds the record for most individual gold medals among all female athletes (not only gymnasts) in Olympic history as well.

In total, she was elected 7-time Olympic gold medalist, 4-time World Champion, 11-time European Champion, and 4-time Czechoslovak Athlete of the Year. In addition to her identity as an athlete, she became one of the most important figures of the resistance that went down in history as the Prague Spring.

ON THE OLYMPIC STAGE FOR THE FIRST TIME

Caslavska made her Olympic debut in Rome in 1960. She won a silver medal in these Olympics, in which she participated as a team. In 1964, she competed in three different events in Tokyo and won the gold medal in all three of them. She created a huge fan base at these Olympics, and with this success, she became one of the most important names followed by the media when she returned to her country. 

Going into 1968, the pressure of the Soviet Union on Prague was increasing day by day. The dissidents who had been gathering silently became much more visible in April 1968, when the pressure became unbearable. 

The "2000 Word Manifesto" written by Ludvik Vaculik, one of the intellectuals who was the leader of the opposition, expressed her complaints about the government and the regime and called for freedom for the whole world. Many famous names, intellectuals, workers, artists, and athletes signed and supported this manifesto. One of these signatures belonged to Vera. Approximately 2 months after the manifesto was published at the end of June, the Soviets occupied Prague.

THE QUIETEST PROTEST

After this invasion, she hid in a small village because she was in danger of being arrested and went to camp there for two months until the Olympics. Since the place where she camped was in a rural area, she trained in environments that were not suitable for gymnastics by running, jumping, or on wooden blocks. 

Two weeks before the start of the Olympics, permission was granted from her country to participate, and she joined the team at the last minute and flew to Mexico City.

Here she won 4 gold medals in individual, vaulting, uneven parallel bar, and floor exercises. She completed these Olympics with a total of 6 medals by winning silver medals in the balance beam and team events. 

After the floor exercises were completed, she shared the gold medal with Soviet Gymnast Larissa Petrik by jury vote. She made perhaps the quietest protest in Olympic history at the award ceremony. First, the Czechoslovak anthem was sung, then the anthem of the Soviet Union began, and Vera turned her head away from the Soviet flag and moved a little away from the podium she shared with her Soviet opponent. Following this movement, the anthem was completed with the roar of the fans in the hall.

FOREIGN PROHIBITIONS AND EMBARGOES

After returning from the Olympics, she decided to end her active sports life and work as a coach and train new gymnasts, but her protest in Mexico City in 1968, which made a big impact, and the manifesto she signed before it, disturbed the political authorities a lot. The government had embargoed him. 

While she was unemployed and did not know what to do, she created a large fan base in Tokyo in 1964, so the Japanese made very important offers to her as a trainer, but the government did not allow them. 

In the early 1980s, a special invitation was sent by the Mexican Gymnastics Federation to become a coach, but this offer remained unanswered. The Mexicans, who later learned that Vera Caslavska was banned from traveling abroad, announced that they would stop oil exports if Vera Caslavska was not given the right to travel. 

Thereupon, the government took a step back and gave permission to Caslavska, and Vera went to Mexico City and started coaching there. With the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact in 1991, Vaclav Havel became president and as one of his first actions, she made Vera his advisor. 

She rejected many positions offered to him, such as mayor, ambassador, and ministry of sports. Finally, she was elected as the President of the National Olympic Committee, which was the most suitable place for him. Caslavska passed away in 2016 at the age of 74.