Vladimír Hopka

* 1937

  • "I was already a star in the sixties and I was also in the Olympic Selection and I still treasure the paper confirming my nomination. Of course then, at that time, everything was done to prepare for Rome. We even had a winter training session in the Tatras, there was a special resort in Gottwaldov, where we stayed. But when I look at it today, we made that versatility so ridiculous: that we were throwing a medicine ball and a meter rod and everything. And then, of course, there was also swimming training. Everything was fine, only then the politicians did something,as it was in Italy, in the West, we received no money, we swam only a hundred. And the relay, although we would probably be very good in it, in the end, we could not go. And even so, we were learning Italian at those camps, and from those years I still know that uno, due, tre, quattro is Italian one, two, three, four. So, unfortunately, only this remained from the Olympics. And there were articles, in case they also included conversations with me, there were such great articles such as: Hopka didn't go to Rome, he got married."

  • As we were in Bremen for the first time, I guess it was the sixties, there was a swimmer behind me at the Ministry of the Interior. So they called me to February and instructed me to watch closely what the army was doing there. Of course, there were Americans. And when I got back, they called me and asked what I saw. I, very proud, as we travelled to Bremen, of course, we were proud, we were in tracksuits, we had Czechoslovakia or Czechoslovak Federation printed on them, something like that. And since it was at night, I went on a train where I could sleep. So I opened one compartment where there was only one man, an American soldier and a black man. Today I understand why he was there alone. We didn't say half a word, I lay there and slept. And then I looked through the window and once as the train went, an American jeep stood in front of the ramps. When we got back, this was what I reported on February street, and that ended it. So maybe on the basis of this, I am somewhere mentioned as an agent. It's a humorous story, but it could have had serious consequences.

  • The nobility seemed to have decided, and my coach, Oto Urban, apparently spoke to them that it would not be a bad thing to try to set a European record for a one hundred meter butterfly. I swam it in just over a minute already in Bremen,1: 00,3. Even in Gottwald in the relay, I already swam it, so they probably decided that I could try to set a European record for 100 meters. There was no 50-meter indoor pool in Czechoslovakia, so the nearest Leipzig was considered, there was a 50-meter pool. So we went there solo with my coach Urban to try and set the European record. Of course, we only travelled to two, travelling at night, which means I didn't sleep. The Germans greeted us with their well-known diet - Eintopf that a spoon is standing in the soup. And after such a night and after such a meal the next day a race was put in. They had it as a youth race, so it was official. I stayed there 1: 01,6, sort of. Just below 1:02. But I did not make it hard, but I did not swim. So they chased me the next day, the race was put in again, and I was already swimming 1: 01.2, which was about five-tenths better than the European record of Talian Dennerlein.

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The world champion swam through his life with lightness

Vladimír Hopka, photography taken in the late 1950s or early 1960s
Vladimír Hopka, photography taken in the late 1950s or early 1960s
zdroj: archív pamätníka

Vladimír Hopka was born on March 25, in 1937. His father was a member of the border guard, so Vladimir spent the first years of his life at the customs on the Slovak-German border. In 1950, he and his family moved to Bratislava, where the witness began a systematic training in swimming, he later also competed in this discipline. His main coach was Otokar Urban, one of the most successful coaches of Czechoslovakia. Vladimir started as one of the first, who could swim butterfly with the so-called dolphin legs, before that, this discipline swam with breasts. In 1957, when he graduated from high school, he was already acquiring medals, the butterfly was his swimming domain. During his career, Vladimír Hopka became a seven-time swimming champion of Czechoslovakia. In 1961, he managed to set a European record for a 100 m butterfly, a year later even the world record, but he learned about this only later and by accident. After finishing his active swimming career, he became a technical teacher as his second passion was engineering. However, he also continued to take part in swimming competitions as a referee.