The Czech Republic competed at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. It was the first Winter Games since the dissolution of Czechoslovakia, and so the Czech Republic and Slovakia competed as independent teams.
Cross-country skier Pavel Benc was the flag-bearer of the country in the opening ceremony – he thus had a chance to lead the last Winter Olympic Czechoslovak team in Albertville and the first ever Czech team in Lillehammer.
Although the three medals won by Czechoslovakia in Albertville in 1992 were all won by Czech athletes (the ice hockey team had also three Slovaks), the result of Lillehammer Olympics were less satisfying as fifth places of ice hockey and Nordic combined teams were the Czech Republic's best results. It can be explained with the growth of competition as the former Soviet Union countries entered their athletes (only Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia participated in the 1992 Winter Olympics besides the Unified Team).
Competitors The following is the list of number of competitors in the Games.Czech Republic at the 1994 Winter Olympics SportMenWomenTotalBiathlon 4 6 10Bobsleigh 4 – 4Cross-country skiing 6 5 11Figure skating 3 5 8Ice hockey 22 – 22Nordic combined 4 – 4Ski jumping 4 – 4 Total 47 16 63
Biathlon
Men AthleteEventFinalTimePen.Rank Petr Garabík10 km Sprint30:31.212120 km Individual59:48.9111 Jiří Holubec10 km Sprint30:45.222920 km Individual1:00:18.9117Tomáš Kos10 km Sprint31:52.0146Ivan Masařík20 km Individual1:01:46.0334Petr GarabíkTomáš KosIvan MasaříkJiří Holubec4 × 7.5 km Relay1:35:26.0012
Women AthleteEventFinalTimePen.RankIrena Novotná15 km Individual59:29.0450 Eva Háková7.5 km Sprint26:48.21915 km Individual57:43.2635 Iveta Knížková7.5 km Sprint28:18.333415 km Individual57:23.7634 Jiřína Pelcová7.5 km Sprint29:23.034915 km Individual58:07.3337Gabriela Suvová7.5 km Sprint30:25.8463Jana KulhaváJiřína PelcováIveta KnížkováEva Háková4 × 7.5 km Relay1:57:00.837
Bobsleigh
Jiří Džmura and Pavel Polomský became most successful Czech bobsledders in Lillehammer Olympic Bobsleigh and Luge Track. They finished fifth in the first run of two-men bobsleigh competition, falling slowly in the results to eventually finish in seventh tied with Canada's Pierre Lueders. In the four-men competition, the Czech team went through the competition in the opposite manner – starting 14th and moving up step by step to the 10th-place finish with a fifth best fourth run.
AthleteEventFinalRun 1Run 2Run 3Run 4TotalRankJiří DzmuraPavel PolomskýTwo-man52.6653.1853.0253.323:32.187Pavel PuškárJan KobiánTwo-man53.4453.4253.5453.853:34.2520Jiří DzmuraPavel PuškárPavel PolomskýJan KobiánFour-man52.3552.4552.3152.403:29.5110
Cross-country skiing
Kateřina Neumannová presented a huge leap in form since last Olympics, finishing only 13 seconds behind podium in 5 km classical and moving up to sixth place in the pursuit. She recorded the second best time on her third leg of women's relay (losing only to Russia's Nina Gavrilyuk) and had the leading role in the ninth-place finish of the Czech relay team as other women had 11th to 13th times in their respective legs.
Men participated with almost the same squad like in Albertville, but their performances were far worse than in French Alps.
Men AthleteEventFinalStartRankTimeRankTotalRankPavel Benc10 km Classical27:38.66515 km Free Pursuit+03:186538:06.118+5:35.33630 km Free1:18:49.525Lubomír Buchta10 km Classical26:17.62615 km Free Pursuit+01:572638:37.033+4:45.22450 km Classical2:14:50.020Václav Korunka10 km Classical27:22.85915 km Free Pursuit+03:025938:40.034+5:53.237Martin Petrásek10 km Classical28:10.07115 km Free Pursuit+03:507140:13.853+8:15.05850 km ClassicalDNFJiří Teplý30 km Free1:17:37.817Ondrej Valenta30 km Free1:20:04.13450 km Classical2:26:08.658Lubomír BuchtaVáclav KorunkaJiří TeplýPavel Benc4 × 10 km Relay1:47:12.68
Women AthleteEventFinalStartRankTimeRankTotalRankLucie Chroustovská15 km Free47:37.84830 km Classical1:36:07.839Kateřina Neumannová5 km Classical14:49.6810 km Free Pursuit+00:41828:00.86+1:11.7615 km Free43:25.114Jana Rázlová5 km Classical16:39.75510 km Free Pursuit+02:315533:07.852+8:08.75230 km Classical1:36:40.942Martina Vondrová5 km Classical16:27.34710 km Free Pursuit+02:194731:24.942+6:13.84415 km Free45:29.13130 km Classical1:34:50.136Iveta Zelingerová5 km Classical16:15.64310 km Free Pursuit+02:074330:25.231+5:02.13315 km Free46:56.34130 km ClassicalDNFMartina VondrováIveta ZelingerováKateřina NeumannováLucie Chroustovská4 × 5 km Relay1:02:02.19
Figure skating
Radka Kovaříková and René Novotný were fourth in the 1992 Winter Olympics and in 1994 they recorded their fourth consecutive fourth place in the European Championships. Two great pairs-champions however returned this season and were great favorites, which was confirmed as 1988 Olympic champions Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov beat 1992 Olympic champions Nataliya Mishkutenok and Artur Dmitriev. The Czech couple was not able to fight for a medal in such competition. It finished fifth in the short program, but fell down to sixth in a free program behind United States' Jenni Meno and Todd Sand. The next year Kovaříková and Novotný however won the Figure Skating World Championships and turned professionals. Kateřina Mrázová and Martin Šimeček recorded their best Olympic finish in ice dancing competition in eighth place in a competition crowned by Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean comeback to the Olympics, 10 years after their revolutionary Bolero.
Women AthleteFinalShort ProgramRankFree SkatingTotalRankLenka Kulovaná5.511 14.019.513Irena Zemanová13.527 did not advance
Pairs AthleteFinalShort ProgramRankFree SkatingTotalRankRadka KovaříkováRené Novotný2.55 6.08.56
Ice Dancing AthleteFinalCompulsory Dance 1RankCompulsory Dance 2RankOriginal DanceRankFree DanceTotalRankRadmila ChrobokováMilan Brzý3.216 3.2169.61616.032.016Kateřina MrázováMartin Šimeček1.68 1.684.888.016.08
Ice hockey
Czech Republic arrived to Lillehammer as the unbeaten winner of the recent Globen Cup, the Swedish part of the European Hockey Tour. The Olympic tournament however had a rather different result. Finland, at the start of the tournament not supposed to be a favorite, was in the lead since the fifth minute power play goal, following three games added the compulsory victories but only win over Germany coached by Luděk Bukač was supported by a good play. The team was not able to beat any of the strong European team and lost to Russia 3-4 to leave it in fourth place in group but to finish only third behind Finland, which hammered Russia, and Germany.
The standings in the other group set a tie against Canada in the quarterfinals. The Czechs lead twice in the game and Canada scores the tying goal five minutes to the end of regulation. In the overtime, Paul Kariya scored the sudden-death power-play goal (Horák served the penalty). The Czechs had to settle with the 5-8th places classification games and avoided surprise beating United States 5-3 after losing to them 0-2 early in the first period. The 5th to 6th place game was the first confrontation of former compatriots, but Slovakia was overmotivated and outplayed 7-1 (the game was decided in the first period, despite losing 0-1 in third minute, the Czechs won it 5-1).
Canada eliminated Czech Republic also in the 1994 World Championships; the two 5th-place finishes forced Ivan Hlinka to withdraw. His successor Luděk Bukač then leads Czech Republic to the 1996 World Championships title, first since 1985 and first of four titles in six years.
Squad: Goalkeepers: Petr Bříza, Roman Turek, Jaroslav Kameš Defenders: Drahomír Kadlec, Jan Vopat, Bedřich Ščerban, Antonín Stavjaňa, Jiří Vykoukal, Miloslav Hořava, Jiří Veber Forwards: Otakar Janecký, Jiří Kučera, Jiří Doležal, Tomáš Sršeň, Martin Hosták, Kamil Kašťák, Pavel Geffert, Petr Hrbek, Richard Žemlička, Jan Alinč, Radek Ťoupal, Roman Horak, Tomáš Kapusta Coaches: Ivan Hlinka, Stanislav Neveselý
Results
StageOpponentResultPointsRankGroup Stage Finland1-3Group Stage Austria7-3Group Stage Germany1-0Group Stage Norway4-1Group Stage Russia3-4Group Stage16-1163Quarterfinal Canada2-3Placement Round 5-8 United States5-35th Place Match Slovakia7-15
Nordic combined
The team competition brought a surprising result for the Czech Republic which eventually occurred to be one of the biggest successes of the whole Olympic team. Zbyněk Pánek, Milan Kučera and František Máka all had one good and one worse jump in the ski-jumping competition (Pánek and Kučera were better in the first round, Máka, who was better cross-country skier, bettered his result in the second round). The Czechs started the cross-country relay in sixth place, 10:50 minutes behind sovereign Japanese jumpers.
The relay was not a dramatic one, as no change happened from first to fourth place, Zbyněk Pánek moved the Czechs past Austria to fifth place already in the first leg. Milan Kučera held the place despite his worst cross-country performance and František Máka brought the relay home in fifth ahead of fast-finishing France.
AthleteEventFirst roundSecond roundCross-countryPointsRankPointsTotalRankStartTimeRankTotalRankMiroslav KopalIndividual event80.04885.0165.048+09:06DNFMilan KučeraIndividual event102.51791.5194.024+05:5341:29.53647:22.531František MákaIndividual event99.524102.0201.517+05:0340:23.22245:26.218Zbyněk PánekIndividual event89.54181.5171.041+08:2638:58.0547:24.034Zbyněk PánekMilan KučeraFrantišek MákaTeam event306.06297.5603.56+10:501:24:05.961:34:55.95
Ski jumping
Two-time team Olympic medalist Jiří Parma was below par in Lillehammer and thus only Jaroslav Sakala managed to record a good individual result in Lillehammer, finishing seventh in large hill competition, but he did not improve in the next two competitions. In the team competition Parma was the weakest member of the team as Zbyněk Krompolc surprisingly recorded best results of the whole team.
AthleteEventFirst RoundFinalPointsRankPointsTotalRankLadislav DluhošLarge hill67.43874.4141.830Normal hill108.531DSQZbyněk KrompolcLarge hill90.22461.2151.429Normal hill106.03583.5189.536Jiří ParmaLarge hill88.12536.6124.739Normal hill118.018108.5226.519Jaroslav SakalaLarge hill113.19108.9222.07Normal hill109.030126.0235.013Zbyněk KrompolcJaroslav SakalaLadislav DluhošJiří ParmaTeam Large Hill401.98398.8800.77
References