Czechoslovakia at the 1956 Summer Olympics
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Czechoslovakia at the Olympic Games | ||||
Flag of Czechoslovakia |
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IOC code: TCH | ||||
1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne/Stockholm | ||||
Medals Rank: 18 |
Gold 1 |
Silver 4 |
Bronze 1 |
Total 6 |
Summer Olympic Games appearances | ||||
1920 • 1924 • 1928 • 1932 • 1936 • 1948 • 1952 • 1956 • 1960 • 1964 • 1968 • 1972 • 1976 • 1980 • 1984 • 1988 • 1992 | ||||
Winter Olympic Games appearances | ||||
1924 • 1928 • 1932 • 1936 • 1948 • 1952 • 1956 • 1960 • 1964 • 1968 • 1972 • 1976 • 1980 • 1984 • 1988 • 1992 | ||||
Other related appearances | ||||
Bohemia (1900–1912) Czech Republic (1994–) Slovakia (1994–) |
Czechoslovakia competed at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia.
Czech athlete Olga Fikotová won a gold medal in women's discus. She also started a famous love affair with American athlete Harold Vincent Connolly here.
The team was warned that their flight back to Czechoslovakia is in a danger of an terrorists' attack. All sportsmen had to undergo a long journey by a Soviet ship Gruzia from Melbourne to Vladivostok, Soviet Union and then by Trans-Siberian Railway to Moscow and by plane to Prague, Czechoslovakia. The whole journey took 31 days. The part of the journey from Melbourne to Moscow, Czechoslovakian sportsmen had to share a ship and train with Soviet sportsmen also returning home via this route. The coexistence was not idyllic and Czechoslovakians described it later as very humiliating. The Olympic team spent a Christmas day in Pacific and New Year's Eve in Siberia. The team experienced high temperatures during voyage across equator and later freezing weather with -50 °C in Siberia.
It is very probable that the reason for the warning was only fictional and a long journey home was only a political decision made by Czechoslovak and Soviet communists. It was never justified.
[edit] References
Nations at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia and Stockholm, Sweden |
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Afghanistan • Argentina • Australia • Austria • Bahamas • Belgium • Bermuda • Brazil • British Guiana • Bulgaria • Burma • Cambodia* • Canada • Ceylon • Chile • Republic of China • Colombia • Cuba • Czechoslovakia • Denmark • Egypt* • Ethiopia • Fiji • Finland • France • United Team of Germany • Great Britain • Greece • Hong Kong • Hungary • Iceland • India • Indonesia • Iran • Ireland • Israel • Italy • Jamaica • Japan • Kenya • South Korea • Liberia • Luxembourg • Malaya • Mexico • Netherlands* • New Zealand • Nigeria • North Borneo • Norway • Pakistan • Peru • Philippines • Poland • Portugal • Puerto Rico • Romania • Singapore • South Africa • Soviet Union • Spain* • Sweden • Sweden • Switzerland* • Thailand • Trinidad • Turkey • Uganda • United States • Uruguay • Venezuela • Vietnam • Yugoslavia *competed in Stockholm only |