Czechia celebrates its first Olympic medals
Czechia had to wait until Friday to celebrate its first Olympic medals from the Paris Games. The first one surprisingly didn’t come from any of the biggest medal hopefuls, but from the men’s fencing team, who sensationally won the bronze. Just a while later, tennis players Kateřina Siniaková and Tomáš Macháč secured the country’s first gold medal in the mixed doubles.
Czech fencers Jiří Beran, Michal Čupr, Jakub Jurka and Martin Rubeš, who secured the country’s first medal from the Olympic Games in Paris, became heroes literally overnight. The Czech quartet, previously largely unknown to the general public, first defeated Italy in the quarter-finals and then overcome the world number one French in a thrilling match to win the bronze.
Jurka played a crucial role in both the quarter-final and bronze medal match, turning the tide in favour of the Czechs. The 42-year-old team captain Jiří Beran, who is retiring after the games, told Czech Radio that he never dreamed of marking his final career appearance with an Olympic medal:
“I feel it's a dream from which I haven't woken up yet. I have a principle that if you work hard, sooner or later you'll succeed in reaching your goal. For me, it came at 42. I'm proof that if you work hard, the results eventually come. And I'm glad they came with this crew.”
Just hours after the historic success for Czech fencing, tennis players Kateřina Siniaková and Tomáš Macháč won the mixed doubles, securing Czechia’s first Olympic gold. The couple defeated China’s Zhang Zhizhen and Wang Xinyu in a thrilling three-set final that was decided by a super tie-break.
While Siniaková, who is 28, has already won the Olympic Gold in the women's doubles with Barbora Krejčíková in Tokyo, the 23-year-old Macháč clinched his first Olympic medal. This is what he had to say after the match:
“I'm not going to lie, I wasn’t really following the score. I was aware that we were losing, but I didn't think about the result. I tried to focus and to win every ball in question. I just played by memory, the way I normally play, regardless of the conditions.”
Siniaková and Macháč, who had been in a relationship off the court, announced their break-up shortly before the Olympics. Following their victory, social media has been speculating about where things stand romantically between them. However, when asked by a journalist, the couple refused to answer, joking that it was “top secret” information.
Meanwhile, most of Czechia’s brightest medal hopefuls have so far failed to live up to expectations in Paris. Canoeist Jiří Prskavec, Tokyo gold medal winner in the men’s kayak slalom, finished in the eighth place after striking two gates.
Defending Olympic heavyweight judo gold medallist Lukáš Krpálek was eliminated in the second round by Japanese Tacuru Saito and the reigning beach volleyball world champions David Schweiner and Ondřej Perušič were knocked out in the round of 16.
All eyes in Czechia are now on climber Adam Ondra, canoeist Martin Fuksa and javelin thrower Jakub Vadlejch, who could still increase the country’s modest medal tally.
