Sport | Topic Archive

One week after the start of the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, the Czech team has won one gold and one bronze medal and are hoping more will follow before the games are over. But it seems that the Czechs have also impressed in one unofficial contest – fashion.

The Czech hockey team has gotten off to a winning start in its first game at the Winter Olympics, beating their former federal partners Slovakia 3:1 late Wednesday. The Czechs drew first blood in the match but the Slovaks soon tied. After that it was close almost all the way.

The smiling face of speed skater Martina Sáblíková has been all over the Czech media since she won gold at the Winter Olympics on Sunday. The Czech Republic has almost no tradition of speed skating, and no training course, and Sáblíková’s success represents the culmination of a sporting fairytale.

In Sports News this Monday: the Czechs take their first medal at the Winter Olympics, gold for speed skater Martina Sáblíková in the 3000 metres – she now sets her sights on a second gold in the 5000 metres next week; and freestyle skier Nikola Sudová comes 16th in the moguls after gamely taking part in Vancouver despite a recent injury.

Martin Hosták is one of Czech TV’s most popular hockey co-commentators, a job he took on after a successful career in Czech hockey, the NHL and in Sweden’s Elitserien. In this edition of One on One, we talk about his years on the ice, his current TV work as well as Czech hopes for a medal from the hockey tournament at the upcoming Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Looking back at the time when he first appeared in the Czech extraliga in the 1980s, Martin Hosták says the game has completely changed.

In Sports news this week: the Czech women’s tennis team beats Germany to reach the Fed Cup semi-finals; in football, Czechs will face title holders Spain in the next European 2012 championship qualifications; goalie Petr Čech contributes to Chelsea’s win over city rival Arsenal; and hockey star Jaromír Jágr returns from Russia fit for the Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

The freezing cold weather in this part of the world has lasted for more than a month now and most people cannot wait to see temperatures rise. For the country’s hardy men and women however the cold snap has brought new challenges. On Saturday they gathered on the bank of the Vltava River for an annual swimming competition called ‘Branické ledy’, after a former ice storage facility located on the riverbank. I went along to see them in action.

In 2006 the Czech Republic took four medals at the Winter Olympic Games in Turin. This year the Czech team is the biggest, and perhaps the strongest, in history. So what can the Czechs hope to achieve at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, which get underway on February 12?

In Sports News this Monday: Zdeněk Štybar becomes the first Czech in 19 years to win the Cyclo-cross World Championships, in front of a home crowd in Tábor; Czech Karolína Plíšková takes the junior title at the Australian Open; and goalie Tomáš Vokoun sets a new personal record for shutouts in one season in ice the NHL.

In Sports News this Monday: Zdeněk Štybar becomes the first Czech ever to win the World Cup in Cyclo-cross; Kateřina Novotná takes the all-round title at the European Short Course Championships for the first time in her career; and the Czech team for next month’s Winter Olympics in Vancouver is the biggest ever.