Olga Fikotová a peripetie jejího olympijského snu v letech 1956–1972
| Stránky | 7–22 |
|---|---|
| DOI | 10.37520/amnph.2025.018 |
| Klíčová slova | Czechoslovakia, Olga Fikotova, Harold Connoly, 1956 Summer Olympics, Olympism, Cold War |
| Citace | LOMÍČEK, Jan. Olga Fikotová a peripetie jejího olympijského snu v letech 1956–1972. Acta Musei Nationalis Pragae – Historia. Praha: Národní muzeum, 2025, 79(3-4), 7–22. DOI: https://doi.org/10.37520/amnph.2025.018. ISSN 2570-6845 (print), 2570-6853 (online). Dostupné také z: https://publikace.nm.cz/periodicke-publikace/acta-musei-nationalis-pragae-historia/79-3-4/olga-fikotova-a-peripetie-jejiho-olympijskeho-snu-v-letech-19561972 |
This paper discusses the life of Olga Fikotová-Connollyová, Czechoslovak gold medallist at the XVIth Summer Olympic Games in Melbourne in 1956. Despite winning Olympic gold in discus throw, Olga Fikotová came into conflict with the ruling regime due to her relationship with American hammer thrower Harold Connolly. The relationship between the two athletes across the Iron Curtain and their subsequent marriage in what was then Czechoslovakia became a media sensation, mainly thanks to the foreign press of the time. The official Czechoslovak institutions, which had to deal with these circumstances, were less enthusiastic. This resulted in a rather unique situation in which two Olympic athletes from the opposite sides of the Iron Curtain managed to negotiate permission to get married from the Czechoslovak institutions of the time, from Catholic and Protestant church authorities, and from the US Embassy in the second half of the 1950s, and as a married couple they legally left Czechoslovakia. The paper also summarises Olga Fikotová-Connolly’s later life, when she was not allowed to represent Czechoslovakia at the following Olympics in Rome, as well as her career in the US Olympic team at the 1960, 1964, 1968 and 1972 Olympics. At the same time, it analyses the current state of knowledge and/or sources that could supplement Olga Fikotová-Connolly’s biography, which has so far been put together essentially only on the basis of published memoirs. The text attempts to consolidate current knowledge and its origins, and to problematise certain aspects of the widely shared “story” of Olga Fikotová-Connolly, from which, however, the public is mostly familiar with the events of 1956–1957.
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