Czech Republic at the 1994 Winter Olympics

Czech Republic at the Olympic Games
Flag of Czech Republic IOC code  CZE NOC Czech Olympic Committee Website www.olympic.cz (Czech) (English)
At the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer
Competitors	65 in 7 sports
Flag bearer	Pavel Benc (cross-country skiing)
Medals	Gold 0	Silver 0	Bronze 0	Total 0
Olympic history (summary)
Summer Games
1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016
Winter Games
1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014
Other related appearances
Bohemia (1900–1912)  Czechoslovakia (1920–1992)

The Czech Republic competed at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. It was the first Winter Games since the dissolution of Czechoslovakia, and so the Czech Republic and Slovakia competed as independent teams.

Cross-country skier Pavel Benc was the flag-bearer of the country in the opening ceremony – he thus had a chance to lead the last Winter Olympic Czechoslovak team in Albertville and the first ever Czech team in Albertville.

Although the three medals won by Czechoslovakia in Albertville in 1992 were all won by Czech athletes, the result of Lillehammer Olympics were less satisfying as fifth places of ice hockey and Nordic combined teams were the Czech Republic’s best results. It can be explained with the growth of competition as the former Soviet Union countries entered their athletes (only Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia participated in the 1992 Winter Olympics besides the Unified Team).

Biathlon

Main article: Biathlon at the 1994 Winter Olympics

Men

Athlete	Event	Final
		Time	Pen.	Rank
Petr Garabík	10 km Sprint	30:31.2	1	21
	20 km Individual	59:48.9	1	11
Jiří Holubec	10 km Sprint	30:45.2	2	29
	20 km Individual	1:00:18.9	1	17
Tomáš Kos	10 km Sprint	31:52.0	1	46
Ivan Masařík	20 km Individual	1:01:46.0	3	34
Petr Garabík Tomáš Kos Ivan Masařík Jiří Holubec	4 x 7.5 km Relay	1:35:26.0	0	12

Women

Athlete	Event	Final
		Time	Pen.	Rank
Irena Česneková	15 km Individual	59:29.0	4	50
Eva Háková	7.5 km Sprint	26:48.2	1	9
	15 km Individual	57:43.2	6	35
Iveta Knížková	7.5 km Sprint	28:18.3	3	34
	15 km Individual	57:23.7	6	34
Jiřína Pelcová	7.5 km Sprint	29:23.0	3	49
	15 km Individual	58:07.3	3	37
Gabriela Suvová	7.5 km Sprint	30:25.8	4	63
Jana Kulhavá Jiřína Pelcová Iveta Knížková Eva Háková	4 x 7.5 km Relay	1:57:00.8	3	7

Bobsleigh

Main article: Bobsleigh at the 1994 Winter Olympics

Jiří Džmura and Pavel Polomský became most successful Czech bobsledders in Lillehammer Olympic Bobsleigh and Luge Track. They finished fifth in the first run of two-men bobsleigh competition, falling slowly in the results to eventually finish in seventh tied with Canada’s Pierre Lueders. In the four-men competition, the Czech team went through the competition in the opposite manner – starting 14th and moving up step by step to the 10th-place finish with a fifth best fourth run.

Athlete	Event	Final
		Run 1	Run 2	Run 3	Run 4	Total	Rank
Jiří Dzmura Pavel Polomský	Two-man	52.66	53.18	53.02	53.32	3:32.18	7
Pavel Puškár Jan Kobián	Two-man	53.44	53.42	53.54	53.85	3:34.25	20
Jiří Dzmura Pavel Puškár Pavel Polomský Jan Kobián	Four-man	52.35	52.45	52.31	52.40	3:29.51	10

Cross-country skiing

Main article: Cross-country skiing at the 1994 Winter Olympics

Kateřina Neumannová presented a huge leap in form since last Olympics, finishing only 13 seconds behind podium in 5 km classical and moving up to sixth place in the pursuit. She recorded the second best time on her third leg of women’s relay (losing only to Russia’s Nina Gavriliuk) and had the leading role in the ninth place finish of the Czech relay team as other women had 11th to 13th times in their respective legs.

Men participated with almost the same squad like in Albertville, but their performances were far worse than in French Alps.

Men

Athlete	Event	Final
		Start	Rank	Time	Rank	Total	Rank
Pavel Benc	10 km Classical					27:38.6	65
	15 km Free Pursuit	+03:18	65	38:06.1	18	+5:35.3	36
	30 km Free					1:18:49.5	25
Lubomír Buchta	10 km Classical					26:17.6	26
	15 km Free Pursuit	+01:57	26	38:37.0	33	+4:45.2	24
	50 km Classical					2:14:50.0	20
Václav Korunka	10 km Classical					27:22.8	59
	15 km Free Pursuit	+03:02	59	38:40.0	34	+5:53.2	37
Martin Petrásek	10 km Classical					28:10.0	71
	15 km Free Pursuit	+03:50	71	40:13.8	53	+8:15.0	58
	50 km Classical					DNF
Jiří Teplý	30 km Free					1:17:37.8	17
Ondrej Valenta	30 km Free					1:20:04.1	34
	50 km Classical					2:26:08.6	58
Lubomír Buchta Václav Korunka Jiří Teplý Pavel Benc	4 x 10 km Relay					1:47:12.6	8

Women

Athlete	Event	Final
		Start	Rank	Time	Rank	Total	Rank
Lucie Chroustovská	15 km Free					47:37.8	48
	30 km Classical					1:36:07.8	39
Kateřina Neumannová	5 km Classical					14:49.6	8
	10 km Free Pursuit	+00:41	8	28:00.8	6	+1:11.7	6
	15 km Free					43:25.1	14
Jana Rázlová	5 km Classical					16:39.7	55
	10 km Free Pursuit	+02:31	55	33:07.8	52	+8:08.7	52
	30 km Classical					1:36:40.9	42
Martina Vondrová	5 km Classical					16:27.3	47
	10 km Free Pursuit	+02:19	47	31:24.9	42	+6:13.8	44
	15 km Free					45:29.1	31
	30 km Classical					1:34:50.1	36
Iveta Zelingerová	5 km Classical					16:15.6	43
	10 km Free Pursuit	+02:07	43	30:25.2	31	+5:02.1	33
	15 km Free					46:56.3	41
	30 km Classical					DNF
Martina Vondrová Iveta Zelingerová Kateřina Neumannová Lucie Chroustovská	4 x 5 km Relay					1:02:02.1	9

Figure skating

Main article: Figure skating at the 1994 Winter Olympics

Radka Kovaříková and René Novotný were fourth in the 1992 Winter Olympics and in 1994 they recorded their fourth consecutive fourth place in the European Championships. Two great pairs-champions however returned this season and were great favorites, which was confirmed as 1988 Olympic champions Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov beat 1992 Olympic champions Nataliya Mishkutenok and Artur Dmitriev. The Czech couple was not able to fight for a medal in such competition. It finished fifth in the short program, but fell down to sixth in a free program behind United States’ Jenni Meno and Todd Sand. The next year Kovaříková and Novotný however won the Figure Skating World Championships and turned professionals. Kateřina Mrázová and Martin Šimeček recorded their best Olympic finish in ice dancing competition in eighth place in a competition crowned by Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean comeback to the Olympics, 10 years after their revolutionary Bolero.

Women

Athlete	Final
	Short Program	Rank	Free Skating	Total	Rank
Lenka Kulovaná	5.5	11	14.0	19.5	13
Irena Zemanová	13.5	27	Did not advance

Pairs

Athlete	Final
	Short Program	Rank	Free Skating	Total	Rank
Radka Kovaříková René Novotný	2.5	5	6.0	8.5	6

Ice Dancing

Athlete	Final
	Compulsory Dance 1	Rank	Compulsory Dance 2	Rank	Original Dance	Rank	Free Dance	Total	Rank
Radmila Chroboková Milan Brzý	3.2	16	3.2	16	9.6	16	16.0	32.0	16
Kateřina Mrázová Martin Šimeček	1.6	8	1.6	8	4.8	8	8.0	16.0	8

Ice hockey

Main article: Ice hockey at the 1994 Winter Olympics

Czech Republic arrived to Lillehammer as the unbeaten winner of the recent Globen Cup, the Swedish part of the European Hockey Tour. The Olympic tournament however had a rather different result. Finland, at the start of the tournament not supposed to be a favorite, was in the lead since the fifth minute power play goal, following three games added the compulsory victories but only win over Germany coached by Luděk Bukač was supported by a good play. The team was not able to beat any of the strong European team and lost to Russia 3-4 to leave it in fourth place in group but to finish only third behind Finland, which hammered Russia, and Germany.

The standings in the other group set a tie against Canada in the quarterfinals. The Czechs lead twice in the game and Canada scores the tying goal five minutes to the end of regulation. In the overtime, Paul Kariya scored the sudden-death power-play goal (Horák served the penalty). The Czechs had to settle with the 5-8th places classification games and avoided surprise beating United States 5-3 after losing to them 0-2 early in the first period. The 5th to 6th place game was the first confrontation of former compatriots, but Slovakia was overmotivated and outplayed 7-1 (the game was decided in the first period, despite losing 0-1 in third minute, the Czechs won it 5-1).

Canada eliminated Czech Republic also in the 1994 World Championships; the two 5th place finishes forced Ivan Hlinka to withdraw. His successor Luděk Bukač then leads Czech Republic to the 1996 World Championships title, first since 1985 and first of four titles in six years.

• Squad:
  • Goalkeepers: Petr Bříza, Roman Turek, Jaroslav Kameš
  • Defenders: Drahomír Kadlec, Jan Vopat, Bedřich Ščerban, Antonín Stavjaňa, Jiří Vykoukal, Miloslav Hořava, Jiří Veber
  • Forwards: Otakar Janecký, Jiří Kučera, Jiří Doležal, Tomáš Sršeň, Martin Hosták, Kamil Kašťák, Pavel Geffert, Petr Hrbek, Richard Žemlička, Jan Alinč, Radek Ťoupal, Roman Horak, Tomáš Kapusta
  • Coaches: Ivan Hlinka, Stanislav Neveselý

Results

Stage	Opponent	Result	Points	Rank
Group Stage	Finland	01-03
Group Stage	Austria	07-03
Group Stage	Germany	01-00
Group Stage	Norway	04-01
Group Stage	Russia	03-04
Group Stage		16-11	6	3
Quarterfinal	Canada	02-03
Placement Round 5-8	United States	05-03
5th Place Match	Slovakia	07-01		5

Nordic combined

Main article: Nordic combined at the 1994 Winter Olympics

The team competition brought a surprising result for the Czech Republic which eventually occurred to be one of the biggest successes of the whole Olympic team. Zbyněk Pánek, Milan Kučera and František Máka all had one good and one worse jump in the ski-jumping competition (Pánek and Kučera were better in the first round, Máka, who was better cross-country skier, bettered his result in the second round). The Czechs started the cross-country relay in sixth place, 10:50 minutes behind sovereign Japanese jumpers.

The relay was not a dramatic one, as no change happened from first to fourth place, Zbyněk Pánek moved the Czechs past Austria to fifth place already in the first leg. Milan Kučera held the place despite his worst cross-country performance and František Máka brought the relay home in fifth ahead of fast-finishing France.

Athlete	Event	First round		Second round			Cross-country
		Points	Rank	Points	Total	Rank	Start	Time	Rank	Total	Rank
Miroslav Kopal	Individual event	80.0	48	85.0	165.0	48	+09:06	DNF
Milan Kučera	Individual event	102.5	17	91.5	194.0	24	+05:53	41:29.5	36	47:22.5	31
František Máka	Individual event	99.5	24	102.0	201.5	17	+05:03	40:23.2	22	45:26.2	18
Zbyněk Pánek	Individual event	89.5	41	81.5	171.0	41	+08:26	38:58.0	5	47:24.0	34
Zbyněk Pánek Milan Kučera František Máka	Team event	306.0	6	297.5	603.5	6	+10:50	1:24:05.9	6	1:34:55.9	5

Ski jumping

Main article: Ski jumping at the 1994 Winter Olympics

Two-time team Olympic medalist Jiří Parma was below par in Lillehammer and thus only Jaroslav Sakala managed to record a good individual result in Lillehammer, finishing seventh in large hill competition, but he did not improve in the next two competitions. In the team competition Parma was the weakest member of the team as Zbyněk Krompolc surprisingly recorded best results of the whole team.

Athlete	Event	First Round		Final
		Points	Rank	Points	Total	Rank
Ladislav Dluhoš	Large hill	67.4	38	74.4	141.8	30
	Normal hill	108.5	31	DSQ
Zbyněk Krompolc	Large hill	90.2	24	61.2	151.4	29
	Normal hill	106.0	35	83.5	189.5	36
Jiří Parma	Large hill	88.1	25	36.6	124.7	39
	Normal hill	118.0	18	108.5	226.5	19
Jaroslav Sakala	Large hill	113.1	9	108.9	222.0	7
	Normal hill	109.0	30	126.0	235.0	13
Zbyněk Krompolc Jaroslav Sakala Ladislav Dluhoš Jiří Parma	Team Large Hill	401.9	8	398.8	800.7	7