Sports News
Roman Sebrle takes the gold in the European Athletics Championships in Munich, while a number of top Czech athletes fail to make it to the winners' podium. In football Sparta Prague make it three wins in a row in the Czech league, and racing driver Tomas Enge could have another crack at Formula 1 later in the season. For all those stories in detail listen to Sports News.
Sebrle wins first Czech European Championships gold in 20 years in Munich
The Czech Republic's only other medal was a silver for Jiri Muzik in the four hundred metres hurdles. Five years after his first appearance at the World Championships, Muzik finally won a place on the podium at a major tournament. "I thought I'd win a medal sooner - those five years have flown by," said the satisfied 25-year-old after the race.
Other Czech athletes were not so fortunate at the European Championships. Pity Ludmila Formanova - after a long comeback from injury the two times world champion was just four tenths of a second off a bronze in the 800 metres. Decathlete Tomas Dvorak may not have been fully fit but he'll still have been disappointed by his poor showing.
The man commonly referred to as the greatest athlete in the history of the javelin, Jan Zelezny, had back problems and failed to reach the final at Munich. The three times world champion and three times Olympic winner will always lack a European champion's medal to complete the set. Most unusually, Zelezny, who is now 36, says he is considering sitting out next season so as to concentrate on the Olympics in Athens in 2004.
Sparta Prague in top form ahead of Champions League qualifying play-off
Sparta Prague are going great guns in the Czech football league. They put three past Banik Ostrava without reply on Saturday to make it three wins out of three so far this season. On Tuesday Sparta take on Genk of Belgium in a play-off for a place in the Champions League. League champions Liberec - who beat Synot 2:0 at the weekend - face a tougher test in the first leg of their Champions League play-off; the north Bohemian club take on the mighty AC Milan away on Wednesday.
Staying in Europe, the Czech striker Jan Simak had a great start at top German side Leverkusen, scoring in his Bundesliga debut on Saturday.
Enge could take part in Formula 1 again later in season
The Czech racing driver Tomas Enge could have his second chance to take part in Formula 1 later this season - depending on how he does in the Formula 3000 championship. Enge's manager said that if the Formula 3000 title is decided in the next two races, Enge will take up an offer to switch to Formula 1 for the rest of the season. There was great excitement last season when Tomas Enge, who is 25, became the first Czech ever to race in Formula 1.
