He represented Czechoslovakia under the five rings twice, and could have done it three times if he had had better luck. But he did not like to remember the Olympics. Whether because of poor results, or because of the terrorist tragedy, which he had to witness firsthand. Now the life of the Czech weightlifter and five-time champion Petr Pavlaska (†75) has ended.
He represented Czechoslovakia under the five rings twice, and could have done it three times if he had had better luck. But he did not like to remember the Olympics. Whether because of poor results, or because of the terrorist tragedy, which he had to witness firsthand. Now the life of the Czech weightlifter and five-time champion Petr Pavlaska (†75) has ended.
A handsome jock who didn’t ruin the fun. This is how the family and those closest to him will remember the former weightlifter Piotr Pavlaska, whose life was cut short on January 3rd. He would have turned 76 in January last year. How did he actually get into the sport? “There was no one in our family for this, there were masons. When I went for a run in front of the school in the morning, the neighbors who were returning from the mushrooms said: “Look, Pavlashek has gone crazy.” The weightlifting ace mentioned a funny story at the Olympian meeting in Trebon, which took place before last summer.
weightlifting injury
A native of Tyna nad Vltavou, he began to go in for athletics. But how did he get to lifting weights? Paradoxically, trauma contributed to this. “As an athlete, I also strengthened a little,” Pavlaska quotes the site ceskobudejovicky.denik.cz. “At that time I was playing for Slavia. I injured my index finger on my right hand.”
It would seem that an inconspicuous injury deprived him of any hope for special sports training. But when one door closed, another opened. In particular, those who are engaged in weightlifting. “The finger did not heal for a long time, it only strengthened. My friends told me that if I can’t throw, I should try weightlifting with them. Vasek Peterka was the state coach of Red Star. He told me to try and that was it.”
Massacre with your own eyes
He performed so well that he set seventeen junior records in his first junior races! Excellent results led him to a nomination for the Olympic Games in Mexico in 1968. But he dropped out of it at the last moment. He was able to get a taste four years later in Munich, where he attacked for a medal. In the end it was sixth place. But he had a much worse experience outside of sports. His Israeli colleagues, who lived near him, were murdered in cold blood by terrorists.
“The village was then divided into men and women. All this happened to women, we looked at the terrorists, they walked along the sidewalk, they had stockings on their heads, ” described in detail even after fifty years. This tragedy was the final for other athletes. “It’s over, training has stopped. We were not allowed anywhere. They didn’t let us go anywhere. Badly.” He got the opportunity to shine in the 1976 Montreal Olympics, but his disqualification left a bitter stain on the Olympic campaign, which Pavlashek himself did not like to recall.
However, many weightlifters in the Czech Republic will remember him as a role model. During his non-Olympic career, he became the champion of Czechoslovakia five times in the 110 kg weight category. He has represented seven times at the European Championships, finishing fourth twice. In addition, he was the first in Czechoslovakia to lift 200 kg in shot put, 500 kg in triple wrestling and 400 kg in deuce.
Source: Blesk