Czechoslovakia at the 1992 Winter Olympics

Czechoslovakia at the
1992 Winter Olympics
IOC codeTCH
NOCCzechoslovak Olympic Committee
in Albertville
Competitors74 (55 men, 19 women) in 10 sports
Flag bearer Pavel Benc (cross-country skiing)
Medals
Ranked 18th
Gold
0
Silver
0
Bronze
3
Total
3
Winter Olympics appearances (overview)
Other related appearances
 Czech Republic (1994–)
 Slovakia (1994–)

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

Medal Name Sport Event Date
 Bronze Tomáš Goder
František Jež
Jaroslav Sakala
Jiří Parma
Ski jumping Large hill team 14 February
 Bronze Petr Barna Figure skating Men's singles 15 February
 Bronze 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.[1]

Sport Men Women Total
Alpine skiing 2 2 4
Biathlon 4 6 10
Bobsleigh 6 6
Cross-country skiing 6 6 12
Figure skating 3 3 6
Ice hockey 22 22
Luge 2 2 4
Nordic combined 4 4
Ski jumping 4 4
Speed 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.[2]

Men
Athlete Event Run 1 Run 2 Final/Total
Time Rank Time Rank Time Diff Rank
Marian Bíreš Downhill 1:56.21 +5.84 34
Super-G 1:17.47 +4.43 37
Giant slalom 1:10.98 43 1:07.13 31 2:18.11 +11.13 34
Slalom 56.01 31 Did not finish
Peter Jurko Super-G 1:17.68 +4.64 39
Giant slalom 1:10.65 39 1:08.50 38 2:19.15 +12.17 37
Slalom 55.95 30 56.85 30 1:52.80 +8.41 25
Men's combined
Athlete Event Downhill Slalom Total
Time Points Rank Time 1 Time 2 Total Points Rank Points Rank
Marian Bíreš Combined 1:49.61 47.30 37 Did not finish
Peter Jurko 1:58.27 135.57 52 Did not finish
Women
Athlete Event Run 1 Run 2 Final/Total
Time Rank Time Rank Time Diff Rank
Lucia Medzihradská Downhill 1:54.78 +2.23 16
Super-G 1:26.76 +5.54 27
Giant slalom 1:09.90 27 1:09.37 19 2:19.27 +6.53 20
Slalom 50.08 19 46.37 17 1:36.45 +3.77 16
Ľudmila Milanová Downhill 1:57.85 +5.30 24
Super-G 1:27.61 +6.39 34
Giant slalom Did not finish
Slalom 51.95 30 47.83 23 1:39.78 +7.10 24
Women's combined
Athlete Event Downhill Slalom Total
Time Points Rank Time 1 Time 2 Total Points Rank Points Rank
Lucia Medzihradská Combined 1:27.89 25.55 16 35.52 36.43 1:11.95 21.88 9 47.43 8
Ľudmila Milanová 1:28.68 35.40 22 36.69 37.57 1:14.26 40.88 12 76.28 15

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.[2]

Men
Athlete Event Final
Time Misses Rank
Jiří Holubec Individual 59:56.2 0 15
Sprint 27:37.8 0 23
Tomáš Kos Individual 1:00:33.3 2 23
Sprint 27:37.4 1 22
Ivan Masařík Individual 1:05:24.9 7 66
Sprint 27:16.8 2 12
Martin Rypl Individual 1:00:39.3 3 25
Sprint 28:41.8 1 50
Martin Rypl
Tomáš Kos
Jiří Holubec
Ivan Masařík
Relay 1:27:15.8 1 7
Women
Athlete Event Final
Time Misses Rank
Jiřina Adamičková Individual 56:21.8 3 23
Sprint 24:57.6 0 5
Gabriela Sůvová Individual 1:02:22.4 7 56
Sprint 26:42.1 2 18
Jana Kulhavá Individual 59:09.8 6 43
Petra Nosková Individual 1:02:57:6 7 60
Helena Černohorská Sprint 30:13.8 3 62
Iveta Knížková Sprint 28:13.0 8 41
Gabriela Sůvová
Jana Kulhavá
Jiřina Adamičková
Relay 1:23:12.7 3 8

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.[2]

Athlete Event Run 1 Run 2 Run 3 Run 4 Total
Time Rank Time Rank Time Rank Time Rank Time Rank
Jiří Džmura
Roman Hrabaň
Two-man 1:01.37 21 1:02.33 28 1:02.25 27 1:02.36 25 4:08.31 25
Petr Ramseidl
Zdeněk Kohout
1:02.46 33 1:02.48 30 1:03.10 34 1:02.80 31 4:10.84 31
Jiří Džmura
Pavel Puškár
Karel Dostál
Roman Hrabaň
Four-man 59.30 22 59.66 21 59.92 21 59.67 21 3:58.557 21

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.[2]

Men
Athlete Event Race
Time Rank
Pavel Benc 10 km classical 31:13.6 41
15 km freestyle pursuit 43:02.0 33
50 km freestyle 2:08:13.6 8
Václav Korunka 10 km classical 29:43.4 17
15 km freestyle pursuit 41:03.5 14
50 km freestyle 2:10:30.7 13
Radim Nyč 10 km classical 30:31.5 33
15 km freestyle pursuit 42:16.0 25
50 km freestyle 2:07:41.5 6
Martin Petrásek 10 km classical 32:27.4 66
15 km freestyle pursuit 45:57.1 55
30 km classical 1:28:30.8 24
Lubomír Buchta 30 km classical 1:25:40.6 13
Jiří Teplý 30 km classical 1:26:14.4 18
50 km freestyle 2:12:00.2 21
Radim Nyč
Lubomír Buchta
Pavel Benc
Václav Korunka
4×10 km relay 1:44:20.0 7
Women
Athlete Event Race
Time Rank
Lubomíra Balážová 5 km classical 14:54.6 11
10 km freestyle pursuit 29:11.0 26
15 km classical 45:22.6 13
Alžběta Havrančíková 5 km classical 15:44.6 34
10 km freestyle pursuit 28:39.9 17
30 km freestyle 1:27:54.9 11
Kateřina Neumannová 5 km classical 14:59.1 13
10 km freestyle pursuit 28:56.6 22
15 km classical 45:28.6 14
Iveta Zelingerová 5 km classical 15:06.4 18
10 km freestyle pursuit 29:03.4 24
30 km freestyle 1:31:39.1 22
Anna Janoušková 15 km classical 47:29.3 33
30 km freestyle 1:32:43.9 27
Zora Simčáková 15 km classical 45:45.6 18
30 km freestyle 1:33:10.3 30
Lubomíra Balážová
Kateřina Neumannová
Alžběta Havrančíková
Iveta Zelingerová
4×5 km relay 1:01:37.4 6

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.[2]

Athlete(s) Event CD1 CD2 SP/OD FS/FD Total
FP FP FP FP TFP Rank
Petr Barna Men's 2 Q 3 4.0 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
Lenka Kulovaná Ladies' 9 Q 12 16.5 11
Radka Kovaříková & René Novotný Pairs 4 4 6.0 4
Kateřina Mrázová & Martin Šimeček Ice dancing 12 11 12 10 20.6 10

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).[2]

Team roster
Team  CAN Unified Team  TCH  FRA   SUI  NOR
 CAN   4-5 5–1 3–2 6–1 10–0
Unified Team 5-4   3–4 8–0 8-1 8-1
 TCH 1-5 4–3   6-4 4–2 10-1
 FRA 2-3 0–8 4–6   4–3 4–2
  SUI 1–6 1–8 2–4 3–4   6–3
 NOR 0–10 1–8 1–10 2–4 3–6  


Team GP W L T GF GA DIF PTS
 Canada 5 4 1 0 28 9 19 8
 Unified Team 5 4 1 0 32 10 22 8
 Czechoslovakia 5 4 1 0 25 15 10 8
 France 5 2 3 0 14 22 -8 4
 Switzerland 5 1 4 0 13 25 -12 2
 Norway 5 0 5 0 7 38 -31 0
  • February 8
 Czechoslovakia 10:1  Norway
  • February 10
 France 4:6  Czechoslovakia
  • February 12
 Czechoslovakia 4:3  Unified Team
  • February 14
 Canada 5:1  Czechoslovakia
  • February 16
 Czechoslovakia 4:2  Switzerland
Medal Round
Quarter-finals
February 18 Czechoslovakia3:1
(1-1, 0-0, 2-0)
 Sweden
Semi-finals
February 21 Canada4:2
(2-1, 0-1, 2-0)
 Czechoslovakia
Bronze Medal Game
February 22 Czechoslovakia6:1
(2-0, 1-0, 3-1)
 United States

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. [2]

Athlete(s) Event Run 1 Run 2 Run 3 Run 4 Total
Time Time Time Time Time Rank
Jan Kohoutek Men's 46.156 46.261 46.958 47.067 3:06.442 20
Petr Urban 46.211 46.285 46.961 46.812 3:06.269 19
Mária Jasenčáková Women's 47.673 47.483 47.694 47.593 3:10.443 20
Petra Matěchová 47.298 47.323 47.749 47.290 3:09.660 17
Petr Urban
Jan Kohoutek
Doubles 47.005 47.219 1:34.274 15

Nordic combined

[2]

Athlete Event Ski jumping Cross-country
Points Rank Deficit Time Rank
Martin Bayer Individual 188.2 37 +4:28.7 55:11.2
+10:43.1
41
Josef Kovařík 193.3 30 +3:54.7 48:41.8
+4:13.7
17
Milan Kučera 205.0 16 +2:36.7 Did not finish
František Máka 197.1 27 +3:29.4 48:02.8
+3:34.7
15
František Máka
Milan Kučera
Josef Kovařík
Team 546.7 8 +8:12 1::32:41.2
+8:12
6

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.[2]

Athlete Event Jump 1 Jump 2
Points Rank Points Rank Total Rank
Tomáš Goder Normal hill 83.9 52 91.4 36 175.3 48
Large hill 90.6 14 74.2 25 164.8 20
František Jež Normal hill 99.7 19 93.0 33 192.7 23
Large hill 91.5 12 79.8 18 171.3 13
Jiří Parma Normal hill 109.2 5 98.7 18 207.9 10
Large hill 101.1 5 96.9 5 198.0 5
Jaroslav Sakala Normal hill 101.1 17 99.7 16 200.8 15
Large hill 85.7 21 45.7 51 131.4 41
Tomáš Goder
František Jež
Jaroslav Sakala
Jiří Parma
Team 325.6 3 294.5 3 620.1 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)

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.[2]

Men
Athlete Event Final
Time Rank
Jiří Kyncl 500 m 40.92 39
5000 m 7:27.78 27
10000 m 15:03.97 25
Jiří Musil 500 m 42.20 41
5000 m 7:29.91 29
10000 m 15:14.18 28

References

  1. ^ Czechoslovakia at the 1992 Winter Olympics
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Albertville 1992 Official Report" (PDF). Le Comite d'Organisation des Jeux Olympiques Albertville. LA84 Foundation. 1992. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 26, 2008. Retrieved October 15, 2013.