Marcel Miček

* 1943

  • "With the results, I was one of the best in Czechoslovakia in those years and I was nominated to the wider squad for the Olympics. After the championships in Katowice, we were all supposed to go to a regeneration camp in Hlubin near Ostrava, where there was a rehabilitation center and for half a year to an extraordinary military practice to Prague. I was willing to go to that Prague, but my coach Boris Attila: "No. You will be at home. Here you will have training and so on and so forth." But it started already in the 71st after Europe. Okay. So I said I wasn't going. My son had just been born, but I didn't mind because my wife was willing. At least I would she was calm. So I didn't go to that Prague. But the situation was such that they came in the seventy-first Christmas, good Christmas. And from there I went to the Swedish Championships. We went to Veksiel via Baltik by ferry. There I won the weight. There I already had problems with making weight. And then for the European Championships in Katowice, I had no one to train with at home. So I was alone in the gym, doing ten-fifteen-twenty ropes, but alone - I had no contact - I was not ready. Already in Katowice, I was on He was not ready for the European Championships. I made weight very hard and after the European Championships in Katowice I told the national team coach that I was giving up the Olympics. I was not going. I was already at the bottom mentally and it was very difficult for me to lose weight. Very difficult. We did not know at the time , they didn't even know what vitamin C was." -"I wanted to ask, how was your preparation?"- "Not at all. Well. We trained, we didn't get anything. If I was in Prague, they would have a 65-crown meal unit plus comprehensive medical care. And we have nothing at home. I went to the doctor, his name was Zapatický, who was the physical education doctor here, the biggest boss. She says: "Are you healthy?" "I'm healthy. That was all. Not even vitamin C, nothing, at the same time I had a little book from UV from Prague, so I should have some kind of support. Nothing. Morning training - alone. I read the newspaper all the time and in the afternoon there was training - they didn't come again. I didn't have sparring sessions. I already went to Europe in Katowice unprepared. There I beat the Swede I wrestled with in Sweden. I lost to a Hungarian for third place. He didn't lose. I drew. But the Hungarian needed to win to be third. And I needed to win too. Sorry. A draw was enough for the Hungarian. And I had to win. I chased the Hungarian all over the mat for nine whole minutes. I didn't catch him. He was third, I was sixth. His coach then, when I was already a coach, said: "How could you win when he was in that Fila federation. And they also determined the referees." And then after that Europe: I hate it. I was dead at home. Literally dead. And a young woman at home. "Do frasa" !" - "Despite the fact that you were qualified after the European Championships in Katowice, you didn't go to the Olympics?" - I gave up. I was the second best wrestler in Czechoslovakia at that time."

  • "How would you compare the youth that were twenty, thirty years ago and now? Can you compare it with preparation? How has it changed?" - "Children don't want to train now. To be burdened in some way. Wrestling is a very difficult sport. , that there are a lot of martial arts sports like karate, which are the most modern now, where they put their noses in their noses. Everyone wants to be this. We have young children. About fifty children, and if they get to the age where they should compete, not many will be left. It's a difficult sport. Another thing is that getting into the senior national team, because the motivation should be to want to be a representative, so the motivation is weak. We now have many, not only us, we have many foreign competitors in the national team. We now have at the European Championships and the world of four Russians. Ours is the best in Slovakia, he's not the best, sorry, Jakub Sýkora. Despite what he's in that weight, his name is Gulajev, the European Champion, a boy from Slovakia, he can't get past him, only to some tournaments. He studies now the Faculty of Physical Education in Bratislava. He is already a bachelor, so we expect him to work as a coach. But the second thing, who will he train? First of all, when we want a coach, we also have to evaluate him financially. Today, for six hundred euros, seven hundred euros, no one will do. We don't have paid coaches. Previously, the state paid the coaches. Now let the sponsor pay? Sponsors go to other sports, to football, to hockey, where they see the company immediately. It's weak in that wrestling. We have children, but there was no physical education in schools, I don't know how it is now. We teach, if you come to see, we teach them basic physical education, how to do a roller. Children don't know this. So that's how it is."

  • "In the morning... I used to live like the social pavilion. I used to live there. In the morning, I turn on the radio, I went to work to the ironworks and there: We were attacked by the occupying troops. Now? This? I'm saying it's not the SNP yet and they're already celebrating the SNP. So I went to the ironworks. In the ironworks: "Don't you know that the Russians attacked us? "I don't know. I heard that the occupation troops. I don't know. Then we went home from work. At the rolling mill, they threw beets at them and I know what. I had a foreman, his name was Lev Tarasov. He was from Moscow, an engineer, but worked at our rolling mill. We got on the tram and as there is now a roundabout on Moldavska, we got off there. She didn't even go any further, because there was a tank blocking the rails, facing the terrace. People were full, standing, throwing stones after them. One of the tanks got out there. It was the captain, and he pointed a gun at us like this. We were all lying down. And then we went to training. We came to Lokomotíva, and the pub is still there by Lokomotíva. I don't know what it's called. Wooden. That was Lokomotivy and there was a tank there. No one got to Čermel. They didn't let anyone in. The soldiers were in overalls. They didn't know where they were. They were Ukrainians. They were pulled from the field. We also bought them everything to eat and brought it. They went we are walking through the city, so a group of us stopped at the City Winery. I don't know if you know where it was? Where the old town hall is. We had a little wine there and then went home. I don't know what time it was and how Dargov stands, there was a Savings Bank. And Hotel Slovan was under construction. And they threw... They dismantled the brick Slovan fence and threw it at them. There the ambulance was on fire. So young. And I and a friend, his name was Turóci, and his wife worked on promotion in ironworks. So we went around the city pasting posters against the Russians. Nobody did anything to us then. Then in the evening, I tell my friend, his name was Kormoš Peťo and he served three years in the Russian army. And I say: "Peťo, let's go away, because they will shoot." "I served three years in the Soviet army..." He didn't even finish - shooting. And these people - and we - ran to that Bank, to the entrance there. One with a bicycle, and we on top of that bicycle. There were many injured. He deflects those bullets. The tall building, on the corner of Pribinova street, was completely weathered. And from there I ran up past the winter stadium to the hostel and there was also a car on fire."

  • "Like this: in Canada, when we landed, there, as soon as we went in the airport lobby, there was one room where it was written above it: Emigration. You just had to enter it and goodbye. It never occurred to us, not once. Also in Greece, we were in Athens the year after, in 1969, there was a coup the year before, when King Constantine was overthrown. There was martial law in action when we were there. When we wrestled, the stadium was full, but only with soldiers, because of the martial law. We were there at the Olympic Stadium then, where the first Olympic Games were, and we wrestled close there. We were not tempted, not one of us [to emigrate]. Even in Vienna, when we were, in '69., We were returning from Greece, there we were already at the station, they said, don't go home, because there are 600 people dad in Brno, etc., the Courier or what kind of newspaper they had there, making propaganda for Czechoslovak people to not go home as there were 600 dead there. It was a hoax, everything, besides, we were actually in such a composition that no one was really interested in emigration. And I'm a pretty family type. I could escape, even when I was a soldier at the border, I had the keys to all the subways to Austria on the 15-kilometre section. I could go ... "

  • "With the results, I was the second most successful wrestler in Czechoslovakia according to the criteria. I was at the Olympics (I didn't bring it, I left the paper at home, from Samaranch, he was the head of the Olympic Committee in the world), preparation for the Olympics: After the European Championships in Katowice, I had to go to the Olympics for half a year. I wanted to go, only my coach Attila Boris said - no, because you will have sparring partners at home, etc., they will train. But the result was ... So I stayed (like) a little kid at home, hey, so I stayed at home, which I made a mistake. Still from Snina was Búrik, who was supposed to go to the Olympics, he even took part in the training camp. Well, I wasn't really ready at home, I wasn't ready for Europe anymore, I didn't have anyone to train with. These my sparring partners didn't go. " "It was Katowice in 1972, Europe, and you were supposed to go to the Olympics after it? So you were not well prepared for Katowice either? ” "No, I was not ready for Katowice anymore. Well, basically after those Katowice de facto, when I didn't go to the camp, I said - that's enough. I also had trouble with dropping weight. "

  • "In the years I started, 1959-1960, I lost, I was beaten in competitions, but in 1961 came my first successes, when I started winning everything. In November 1961, I became the champion of Czechoslovakia in Pilsen up to 50 kg, in the Greco-Roman style of fighting. Then, in 1962, I became the champion of Czechoslovakia under the age of 21 under Iskra Svit, and in 1963 under Dukla Mikulov, already as a soldier, I became the champion of Czechoslovakia under the age of 21. Basically, I was already without training, because I didn't get to Dukla Hodonín, so I served at the border, but I still fought for the Red Star Brno, which was in the 1st league. But in 1962, in '62. the year I vouched, in 1963 they abolished the Red Stars in Czechoslovakia, deciding to keep only one Red Star, and it was in Prague. So I didn't get to Prague, because there was no free window, there was already a fighter from Dunajplavba Bratislava as a competitor. And then I'm ... actually my friend Timko, who was then a national team coach and basically raised Lohyňa, world champion, so he recruited me to Dukla Mikulov, where we wrestled the 2nd league and we were actually the winners of the 2nd league in 1963. - 64. "

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I am actually alive thanks to sport

Marcel Miček in the 1980s, portrait
Marcel Miček in the 1980s, portrait
zdroj: Archív pamätníka

Marcel Miček was born on March 21, 1943 in Záhorská Ves. He started wrestling in 1959 at the Secondary Vocational School of Chemistry in Svit under the guidance of coach Emil Karabáš. Later, he completed his graduation from the Secondary School of Transport in Košice (1974 - 1978). He completed his education with a six-semester distance study for coaches at the FTVŠ in Bratislava (1975 - 1978). In 1962, as part of the basic military service (ZVS), he enlisted in the border guard. He was a Red Star (RH) Brno member and wrestled in the first league. After the reorganization of RH, he fought in the second league for Mikulov in Moravia. In 1964 he graduated from ZVS and returned to the maternity ward in Svit, where he worked as a third-class coach. In January 1965, the memorial transferred to TJ Lokomotiva VSŽ Košice, where he wrestled under the leadership of coach Boris Attila until the end of 1974. In 1975, he moved to the Center for Top Sports (SVŠ). After the regime change, he worked at the Talented Youth Center as a coach until 2013. In addition to the position of coach, he held various positions: he was the deputy head of the SVŠ (1990), chairman of the Sports-Technical Commission and a member of the presidency of the Slovak Wrestling Association (1998-2008). At present, the memorial serves as the secretary of the Wrestling Club 1904.