Slovak paralympians make history

The Slovak paralympians won their first-ever gold medal at these Winter Games and according to the medals count these were our most successful Paralympic Games.

History…

The first disabled athletes competed fifty years ago in Rome. These games were the brainchild of an English neurosurgeon, Sir Ludwig Guttmann, who organized competitions in some sporting events for patients with spinal injuries at the Stoke Mandeville Therapeutic Rehabilitation Center for Military Veterans in Aylesbury. The first winter Olympics took place in 1976 in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden and Slovak athletes were there too – a blind skier Jozef Búroš competed in the 10 and 15 km races. Slovak athletes have been winning valuable metals at the Paralympic Games since 1992. As part of the Czechoslovak team, they scored in the alpine skiing and in the summer games in volleyball and athletics. They also won Paralympics medals later on as representatives of the independent Slovak Republic. From six Paralympics games, all together they have brought home 62 medals.

In the summer our strengths were in athletics, swimming, table tennis, standing volleyball, cycling and archery, in the winter Slovak paralympians took top places in alpine and cross country skiing and the biathlon.

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Vancouver 2010

This year once again after the „classical“ Olympics, the torch passed from the healthy athletes to those to whom fate had not always been kind. Despite their handicaps, they took to the slopes and went on the ice to deliver performances that certainly deserve our admiration. From March 12, Vancouver belonged to 507 athletes from 44 countries that came to the Tenth Winter Paralympics. In Whistler, B.C. they competed in downhill and cross country skiing, biathlon, wheelchair curling and sledge hockey, in three categories – visually impaired, disabled sitting and disabled standing – altogether in 64 disciplines. The Olympic torch was brought into the stadium by the parents of Terry Fox, and the Olympic flame was lit by a fifteen-year old handicapped athlete, Zach Beaumot.

Slovaks at Paralympic Games

Slovakia entered the battle for top places in alpine skiing, cross-country skiing and the biathlon. We were represented by seven visually impaired skiers – Henrieta Farkašová (sighted guide Natália Šubrtová), Michal Beladič (Martin Pavlák), Radomír Dudáš (Maroš Hudík), Miroslav Haraus (Martin Makovník), Norbert Holík (Ľuboš Bošeľa), Marek Kubačka (Jozef Cirbus),  Jakub Krako (Juraj Medera) and four disabled skiers – Iveta Chlebáková, Petra Smaržová, Martin France a Martin Čupka. In cross-country skiing and the biathlon, we were presented by visually impaired Marian Baláž and handicapped Vladimir Gajdičiar.

Thirteen Slovak athletes went to Canada in order to overcome the two magic thirteens – the number of silver and bronze medals from the previous four Olympics, and of course, to add to them the first Slovak gold of the Winter Olympics. And they achieved more than was expected! Although many predicted medal-winning performances for Slovaks, the final results surprised everyone.

Medals avalanche

The Slovak national anthem sounded for the first time in the Whistler Medals Plaza for Jakub Krako, who with his sighted guide, Juraj Medera, won the slalom in the visually impaired category – and started the medals avalanche for Slovakia. The fact that our athletes at the Winter Paralympic Games were not just an exception, is confirmed by our other athletes – in the slalom Slovaks also came in fourth, fifth and eleventh.

On the fifth day of the Olympics in Whistler Creekside in the giant slalom event Henrieta Farkašová with her sighted guide Natalia Šubrtová won the gold again. That same day, in the giant slalom for men Jakub Krako won the gold medal too. Slovakia rejoiced for the third time – and again with gold.

The following day Petra Smaržová became a medallist – in the giant slalom for disabled athletes, she added the bronze medal to our collection. Henrieta Farkašová needed a silver medal to join her gold one – and she did not need to wait long to win it. Then followed the Super-G and more medals for Slovaks – Farkašová – gold, Krako – silver and our fourth Paralympic medallist, Miroslav Haraus – bronze. This last one, together with his sighted guide Martin Makovník won another bronze, and then a gold in the Super Combined was added by our most successful athletes a- Jakub Krako and Henrieta Farkašová.

Passing the torch

All four medallists are among the emerging generation of disabled athletes and their sports careers are just starting. It is also interesting that the disabled skiers are helping to manage the visually impaired athletes.

Turin medallists Iveta Chlebáková and Radomír Dudáš have probably competed in their last Paralympics and are leaving the field to tougher and younger skiers.

Iveta Chlebáková was our most successful winter paralympian. Vancouver was the fourth Olympic Games for her. She brought two bronzes from Salt Lake City in 2002 and from Turin in 2006. She said goodbye to the Olympics with flag in hand, as the first Slovak woman to carry the flag during the opening and ending ceremonies of the Olympics. Radomír Dudáš was our flag bearer at the Olympics in Turin. It was also his fourth Olympic games. He was our most successful athlete in Salt Lake City (1 silver and 1 bronze) and Turin, where in addition to a silver he came in fourth – 3 times.

We can now believe that with these successes the conditions for disabled athletes in Slovakia will greatly improve. Slovak Paralympic athletes are not just great in the Olympics. Our athletes are also successful in the events held between them at home. In addition to the admiration, they all certainly deserve adequate support and certainly more attention.

More information at: www.spv.sk





Author: Iva Kraphunová
Photo: Roman Benický

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