Jiří Zedníček

* 1945

  • “I was not limited by any political constraints when it came to travelling abroad. This had nothing to do with leaving the country. I played basketball too well to be vulnerable in this regard. All the top-level sportsmen and sportswomen received offers to join the Communist Party. I was not a member of either the Communist Party or the Socialist Youth Association and nothing had happened to me. In this sense I suppose that a much more important aim was to make certain people afraid. But when these people did not become afraid, then what had happened – nothing.”

  • “At that time me and two friends of mine went to town in the morning because we had a free day. We heard the sirens but because it was previously announced that the German president would visit the Olympic village that day, we did not pay any attention. But upon return some two hours later, we could see that the area from the metro exit towards the main gate of the Olympic village which was normally crammed with badge and signature collectors was completely empty. We did not know what was going on. Only at the gate did we learn what had happened. It then lasted the whole day, followed by the evening tragedy at the airport which claimed the lives of another, I believe, fourteen people.”

  • “I think that using the Olympics for the presentation of any political opinions is wrong. Look, there had been much talk about this before and during the Beijing Olympics of 2008. But the Olympic Games are the only space in which sportsmen and women coming from various political setups, from various countries, compete with each other and also meet each other. For instance the Olympic village is an incredibly peaceful place where sportsmen from various countries, which may well be at war with each other, get to sit to next other. And to use this space for the assertion of political opinions is very tricky. Because if we present our political opinions loudly in there, we must accept that so will the others with whom we deeply disagree. And suddenly, it will begin to transform from a sports event into a battle of political thought. I think it is good that the Olympics are in this regard, to the extent possible, purified of politics. In the end, from the ancient times there had been something like an Olympic armistice – in the course of the Olympics no wars would be waged. I wish it were the same today.”

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    Hagibor, 17.03.2014

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Untalented to the Olympics

Zedníček.jpg (historic)
Jiří Zedníček
zdroj: Sbírka Post bellum

Jiří Zedníček was born on 14 February 1945 into a sporty family. Ever since his childhood he was raised to do various sports, in specific athletics, skiing, tennis and basketball. When at high school he became a basketball player of Prague‘s Slavia team. He competed in the Czechoslovak league for Slavia VŠ Praha and from there was selected to the national team. He participated in the Olympics for the first time in 1972 in Munich. He is an indirect witness of the act of terrorism which took place there. Altogether, during his career his team had won the Czechoslovak basketball league for seven times and ended up second seven times. He then also worked as a basketball coach in Belgium. Following the Velvet Revolution he started a business in a consultancy firm and served as a functionary in sports associations. In 2013 Jiří Zedníček was introduced to the Hall of Fame of the Czechoslovak Basketball Federation.