Czechia's five Olympic medals: too little or quite a lot?
In the overall medal rankings at the Paris Olympics, Czechia finished 28th, earning its lowest count in its independent history with three gold and two bronze medals.
Canoeist Josef Dostál reached for his first gold medal at the Paris Olympics. The other gold medalists were tennis players Kateřina Siniaková and Tomáš Macháč in mixed doubles, and another canoeist, Martin Fuksa. The épée fencing team and javelin thrower Nikola Ogrodníková secured bronze. Yes, it was the lowest medal yield since independent Czechia came into existence. Nevertheless, the head of the Czech Olympic Team, Martin Doktor, remains positive:
"I think that when it comes to the number of medals, we should remember that it’s not just about the total count. First, we look at how many of them were gold, how many were silver, and how many were bronze. That’s what matters most to me."
In other words, from at least one point of view, three gold medals weigh substantially more than, say, six bronze ones. Jiří Kejval, the Chairman of the Czech Olympic Committee, sounds a bit less upbeat but for a different reason:
"We were a bit disappointed by the low number of Czech fans. These Olympics were geographically the closest to Czechia in several decades, so we expected more of them to attend. I personally think it was a pity. Paris during the Olympics was completely different from Paris before or after the Games."
To quote the father of modern Olympics, Pierre de Coubertin, the important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win, but to take part. However, this applies only to a certain extent, as Jiří Kejval explains:
"Of course, successes are great motivators. If there are no medals, it can be quite frustrating—the pressure to achieve starts growing, and that can be counterproductive."
Be that as it may, Martin Doktor, himself a former sprint canoeist and double Olympic champion, knows from his own experience that:
"Each individual result and performance has a story of its own, and you can’t generalize. The Olympics, in every discipline, represent the highest level of competition on a global scale, and the line between what we consider a success and a disappointment is extremely fine. For example, some of our athletes finished 4th, which was very painful for them. On the other hand, some others finished 4th unexpectedly, and for them, it was a very joyous experience."
So, on the one hand, when it comes to Olympic medals, Czechia fared worse than, say, Hungary, with a similar population, which reached 14th position in overall rankings. On the other hand, it performed better than similarly sized Austria and the much larger Poland, which ended in 36th and 42nd positions, respectively.
