Czechoslovakia, formally the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic, competed at the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France. The team consisted of 74 athletes, which was the largest number at that time. It was the last time Czechoslovakia participated in the Winter Olympics, because the state split to Czech Republic and Slovakia and both countries entered their independent teams to the 1994 Winter Olympics.
Cross-country skier Pavel Benc was the flag-bearer of the country in the opening ceremony.
Medalists MedalNameSportEventDate Ski jumping Large hill team 14 February Figure skating Men's singles 15 February Czechoslovakia men's national ice hockey team Ice hockey Men's tournament 22 February
Competitors The following is the list of number of competitors in the Games.Czechoslovakia at the 1992 Winter Olympics SportMenWomenTotalAlpine skiing 2 2 4Biathlon 4 6 10Bobsleigh 6 – 6Cross-country skiing 6 6 12Figure skating 3 3 6Ice hockey 22 – 22Luge 2 2 4Nordic combined 4 – 4Ski jumping 4 – 4Speed skating 2 0 2 Total 55 19 74
Alpine skiing
Czechoslovakia's participation in the alpine skiing races was done by four skiers, all Slovaks. Lucia Medzihradská was the most successful of them reaching top eight in the women's combined event.
Men AthleteEventRun 1Run 2Final/TotalTimeRankTimeRankTimeDiffRankMarian BírešDownhillcolspan=4 1:56.21 +5.8434Super-Gcolspan=4 1:17.47 +4.4337Giant slalom1:10.98431:07.13312:18.11 +11.1334Slalom56.0131Did not finishPeter JurkoSuper-Gcolspan=4 1:17.68 +4.6439Giant slalom1:10.65391:08.50382:19.15 +12.1737Slalom55.953056.85301:52.80 +8.4125
Men's combined AthleteEventDownhillSlalomTotalTimePointsRankTime 1Time 2TotalPointsRankPointsRankMarian BírešCombined1:49.6147.3037Did not finishPeter Jurko1:58.27135.5752Did not finish
Women AthleteEventRun 1Run 2Final/TotalTimeRankTimeRankTimeDiffRankLucia MedzihradskáDownhillcolspan=4 1:54.78 +2.2316Super-Gcolspan=4 1:26.76 +5.5427Giant slalom1:09.90271:09.37192:19.27 +6.5320Slalom50.081946.37171:36.45 +3.7716Ľudmila MilanováDownhillcolspan=4 1:57.85 +5.3024Super-Gcolspan=4 1:27.61 +6.3934Giant slalomDid not finishSlalom51.953047.83231:39.78 +7.1024
Women's combined AthleteEventDownhillSlalomTotalTimePointsRankTime 1Time 2TotalPointsRankPointsRankLucia MedzihradskáCombined1:27.8925.551635.5236.431:11.9521.88947.438Ľudmila Milanová1:28.6835.402236.6937.571:14.2640.881276.2815
Biathlon
Jiřina Adamičková was close to winning a medal in the women's sprint, fighting for it after last shooting, but fading fast in the closing uphill section and falling down to fifth place, seven seconds behind bronze-medal Belova of the Unified Team.
Men AthleteEventFinalTimeMissesRankJiří HolubecIndividual59:56.2015Sprint27:37.8023Tomáš KosIndividual1:00:33.3223Sprint27:37.4122Ivan MasaříkIndividual1:05:24.9766Sprint27:16.8212Martin RyplIndividual1:00:39.3325Sprint28:41.8150Martin Rypl Tomáš Kos Jiří Holubec Ivan MasaříkRelay1:27:15.817
Women AthleteEventFinalTimeMissesRankJiřina AdamičkováIndividual56:21.8323Sprint24:57.605Gabriela SůvováIndividual1:02:22.4756Sprint26:42.1218Jana KulhaváIndividual59:09.8643Petra NoskováIndividual1:02:57:6760Helena ČernohorskáSprint30:13.8362Iveta KnížkováSprint28:13.0841Gabriela Sůvová Jana Kulhavá Jiřina AdamičkováRelay1:23:12.738
Bobsleigh
After many years, Czechoslovakia entered its Olympic bobsleigh teams again, which recorded average to below-average results, but improved fast to be strong competitors at the 1994 Winter Olympics.
AthleteEventRun 1Run 2Run 3Run 4TotalTimeRankTimeRankTimeRankTimeRankTimeRankJiří DžmuraRoman HrabaňTwo-man1:01.37211:02.33281:02.25271:02.36254:08.3125Petr RamseidlZdeněk Kohout1:02.46331:02.48301:03.10341:02.80314:10.8431Jiří Džmura Pavel Puškár Karel Dostál Roman HrabaňFour-man59.302259.662159.922159.67213:58.55721
Cross-country skiing
The men's 50-kilometer freestyle marathon was the highlight of Czechoslovakia's men. Radim Nyč and Pavel Benc finished in top eight. Václav Korunka missed the top ten, but recorded three top-20 performances. In women's races Alžběta Havrančíková performed great in the second, freestyle-pursuit part of the combination race to move up from 34th to 17th place. Young Kateřina Neumannová took part in her first Olympics. The strong Czech and Slovak team-up of the women's relay fought for medals before losing pace in the last stage run by Iveta Zelingerová.
Men AthleteEventRaceTimeRankPavel Benc10 km classical31:13.64115 km freestyle pursuit43:02.03350 km freestyle2:08:13.68Václav Korunka10 km classical29:43.41715 km freestyle pursuit41:03.51450 km freestyle2:10:30.713Radim Nyč10 km classical30:31.53315 km freestyle pursuit42:16.02550 km freestyle2:07:41.56Martin Petrásek10 km classical32:27.46615 km freestyle pursuit45:57.15530 km classical1:28:30.824Lubomír Buchta30 km classical1:25:40.613Jiří Teplý30 km classical1:26:14.41850 km freestyle2:12:00.221Radim Nyč Lubomír Buchta Pavel Benc Václav Korunka4×10 km relay1:44:20.07
Women AthleteEventRaceTimeRankLubomíra Balážová5 km classical14:54.61110 km freestyle pursuit29:11.02615 km classical45:22.613Alžběta Havrančíková5 km classical15:44.63410 km freestyle pursuit28:39.91730 km freestyle1:27:54.911Kateřina Neumannová5 km classical14:59.11310 km freestyle pursuit28:56.62215 km classical45:28.614Iveta Zelingerová5 km classical15:06.41810 km freestyle pursuit29:03.42430 km freestyle1:31:39.122Anna Janoušková15 km classical47:29.33330 km freestyle1:32:43.927Zora Simčáková15 km classical45:45.61830 km freestyle1:33:10.330Lubomíra Balážová Kateřina Neumannová Alžběta Havrančíková Iveta Zelingerová4×5 km relay1:01:37.46
Figure skating
Reigning European Champion Petr Barna won his only Olympic medal behind Unified Team's Viktor Petrenko and United States' Paul Wylie. During his free program, Barna was the first skater to land the quadruple jump in the Olympic competition. The program was choreographed on the Hamlet soundtrack and was Barna's artistic masterpiece.
Radka Kovaříková and René Novotný teamed up after Novotný's 1988 Winter Olympics medicine problem. They beat Shishkova and Naumov of the Unified Team in the competition, but lost to Isabelle Brasseur and Lloyd Eisler of Canada in a close battle for the bronze medal, feeling a sort of injustice.
Kateřina Mrázová and Martin Šimeček finished 10th in the ice-dancing competition, while Lenka Kulovaná finished 11th. She was fifth in the 1992 European Championships, but lost to two European opponents only in Albertville.
Athlete(s)Event / /TotalRankPetr BarnaMen'scolspan=2 2 Q34.0Lenka KulovanáLadies'colspan=2 9 Q1216.511Radka Kovaříková & René NovotnýPairscolspan=2 446.04Kateřina Mrázová & Martin ŠimečekIce dancing1211121020.610
Ice hockey
In 1991, Czechoslovakia failed to win a medal at the World Championships in Finland. Stanislav Neveselý and Josef Horešovský were sacked and the team was coached by Ivan Hlinka in Albertville. He named ten members of the 1991 World Championships for their Olympic squad. The team entered the group hammering Norway and coming back from 0-2 against France. Robert Lang's two goals helped beat Unified Team, which was the only one loss of the later Olympic champions. Czechoslovakia itself then recorded its first loss against Canada, but confirmed their quarterfinals participation with a win over Switzerland.
Sweden, the reigning World Champions, met Czechoslovakia in the quarterfinals, but was beaten as Kadlec, Janecký and Augusta scored their goals and Czechoslovakia headed to the semifinals against Canada again. The game was more balanced than the group one, but was lost 2-4. The team however had not problems finding motivation to beat United States for the bronze medal. Robert Lang was the top scoring player of the team (13 points).
Team roster Goalkeepers: Petr Bříza, Oldřich Svoboda, Jaromír Dragan Defenders: Leo Gudas, Miloslav Hořava, Drahomír Kadlec, Bedřich Ščerban, Richard Šmehlík, František Procházka, Róbert Švehla, Jiří Šlégr Forwards: Petr Rosol, Robert Lang, Kamil Kašťák, Richard Žemlička, Ladislav Lubina, Radek Ťoupal, Peter Veselovský, Petr Hrbek, Otakar Janecký, Patrik Augusta, Tomáš Jelínek, Igor Liba Coaches: Ivan Hlinka, Jaroslav Walter
Team 4-5 5–1 3–2 6–1 10–0 5-4 3–4 8–0 8-1 8-1 1-5 4–3 6-4 4–2 10-1 2-3 0–8 4–6 4–3 4–2 1–6 1–8 2–4 3–4 6–3 0–10 1–8 1–10 2–4 3–6
TeamGPWLTGFGADIFPTS5410289198541032102285410251510852301422-8451401325-1225050738-310
February 8 10:1 February 10 4:6 February 12 4:3 February 14 5:1 February 16 4:2
Medal Round Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Bronze Medal Game
Luge
Petr Urban was the leading and most controversial member of the Czechoslovakia's luge team. He recorded two top-20 finishes, but was soon excluded from the team because of his cartoon jokes he published in daily Sport while competing in Albertville.
Athlete(s)EventRun 1Run 2Run 3Run 4TotalTimeTimeTimeTimeTimeRankJan KohoutekMen's46.15646.26146.95847.0673:06.44220Petr Urban46.21146.28546.96146.8123:06.26919Mária JasenčákováWomen's47.67347.48347.69447.5933:10.44320Petra Matěchová47.29847.32347.74947.2903:09.66017Petr Urban Jan KohoutekDoubles47.00547.219colspan=2 1:34.27415
Nordic combined
AthleteEventSki jumpingCross-countryPointsRankDeficitTimeRankMartin BayerIndividual188.237 +4:28.755:11.2 +10:43.141Josef Kovařík193.330 +3:54.748:41.8 +4:13.717Milan Kučera205.016 +2:36.7Did not finishFrantišek Máka197.127 +3:29.448:02.8 +3:34.715František Máka Milan Kučera Josef KovaříkTeam546.78 +8:121::32:41.2 +8:126
Ski jumping
Jiří Parma was Czechoslovakia's flag-bearer at the 1988 Winter Olympics, but recorded his best ever Olympic results in 1992. He led the team in a dramatic competition, where only Czechoslovakia managed to get closer to the uncontested duo of Austria and gold medal winning Finland. He added large hill fifth place and normal hill 10th place.
AthleteEventJump 1Jump 2PointsRankPointsRankTotalRankTomáš GoderNormal hill83.95291.436175.348Large hill90.61474.225164.820František JežNormal hill99.71993.033192.723Large hill91.51279.818171.313Jiří ParmaNormal hill109.2598.718207.910Large hill101.1596.95198.05Jaroslav SakalaNormal hill101.11799.716200.815Large hill85.72145.751131.441Tomáš Goder František Jež Jaroslav Sakala Jiří ParmaTeam325.63294.53620.1
Speed skating
Only two Czechoslovakia's speed skaters took part in the Games, but none of them was able to fight the competition for better than low-place finishes.
Men AthleteEventFinalTimeRankJiří Kyncl500 m40.92395000 m7:27.782710000 m15:03.9725Jiří Musil500 m42.20415000 m7:29.912910000 m15:14.1828
References
Official Olympic Reports International Olympic Committee results database