Roman Šebrle
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| Medal record | |||
 Roman Šebrle |
|||
| Men's athletics | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Olympic Games | |||
| Gold | Athens 2004 | Decathlon | |
| Silver | Sydney 2000 | Decathlon | |
| World Championships | |||
| Silver | 2003 Paris | Decathlon | |
| Silver | 2005 Helsinki | Decathlon | |
| World Indoor Championships | |||
| Gold | 2001 Lisbon | Heptathlon | |
| Gold | 2004 Budapest | Heptathlon | |
| Bronze | 1999 Maebashi | Heptathlon | |
| Bronze | 2003 Birmingham | Heptathlon | |
| European Championships | |||
| Gold | 2002 Münich | Decathlon | |
| Gold | 2006 Gothenburg | Decathlon | |
| European Indoor Championships | |||
| Gold | 2002 Wien | Heptathlon | |
| Gold | 2005 Madrid | Heptathlon | |
| Gold | 2007 Birmingham | Heptathlon | |
| Silver | 2000 Ghent | Heptathlon | |
Roman Šebrle IPA: ['roman 'ʃɛbr̩lɛ] (born 26 November 1974 in Lanškroun) is an athlete from the Czech Republic. Originally a high jumper, he competes in decathlon and heptathlon for team TJ Dukla Praha. He is a world record holder in decathlon - in 2001 in Götzis he became the first decathlete ever to achieve over 9,000 points, setting the record at 9,026 points, succeeding his compatriot, Tomáš Dvořák, who had scored 8,994 points two years earlier. After placing second in the decathlon of the 2000 Summer Olympics, Šebrle won the gold medal in the 2004 Summer Olympics.
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[edit] Life and career
When Roman Šebrle was six years old, he started playing football, but also occasionally took part in athletics competitions. He competed in his first decathlon competition in 1991 in Týniště nad Orlicí, reaching 5,187 points. In 1995 he joined the Czech Army's sports club TJ Dukla Praha. Thus he automatically became a soldier of the Czech army, although in fact he does not take part in any military operations and with few exceptions[1] in any military training.[2]
In 1996 Šebrle achieved a score of over 8,000 points for the first time, reaching 8,210 points at a meeting in Prague. His first big success came in 1997, when he won the World University Games in Sicily and came ninth at the World Championships in Athens. In 2000 he was successful at the European Indoor Athletics Championships in the heptathlon, where he won silver. By the end of the discus discipline at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, after Estonian Erki Nool was red-flagged three times by the discus judge, it seemed that Roman Šebrle was on course for the gold medal. However, the competition referee over-ruled the decision and Šebrle finally took silver.[3]
In May 2001 he shocked the world with a new world record of 9,026 points. In 2002 he managed to win both European Indoor Championships and European Championships. In 2004 in Athens he finally managed to win the Olympic Games, reaching 8,893 points and thus beating the 20-year-old Olympic record set by the British decathlete Daley Thompson in the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.[4]After the victory in Athens, Šebrle was promoted to the rank of Major.[5]
Šebrle’s best World Championships results were silver in 2003 and 2005. He was more successful at the World Indoor Championships in heptathlon, taking gold in 2001 and 2004 and bronze in 1999 and 2003. In 2005 he won the European Indoor Championships in heptathlon, in 2006 the European Championships in decathlon for the second time and in 2007 he managed to get his third European indoor gold. The sum of his personal bests in individual disciplines is 9,300 points.[6] He is the only decathlete who finished 35 decathlon competitions with the score over 8,000 points and he also finished 17 competitions with the score over 8,500 points (as of 7 March 2007).[7]
Šebrle was also voted the Best Czech Athlete of the Year five times in a row (2001-2006),[8] and in 2004 he received the title of Czech Sportsman of the Year.[9]
On 14 October 2000 Šebrle married Eva Kasalová, a former Czech athlete who competed on the track at 400 and 800 metres. His son, Štěpán, was born in September 2002 and his daughter Kateřina in January 2007.
[edit] Javelin injury
On 22 January 2007, Šebrle was injured by a javelin thrown by a South African female javelin thower, Sunette Viljoen, from a distance of 55 metres while training in Potchefstroom, South Africa. The javelin pierced the edge of his right shoulder from the front, 12 cm deep. Shocked, Šebrle ripped the javelin out immediately, which could have caused even more damage. Luckily for Šebrle, it did not cause any serious injury, because it slipped between a muscle and his skin. He was taken to a hospital, but left soon with just eleven stitches. However, he was limited in training for some time, especially in the pole vault. Later he stated that he was only 20 cm away from being killed and 1 cm from an injury that would have ended his career.[10][11][12]
[edit] List of results
- 1997 WC Athens, Greece - decathlon - 9th
- 1998 EC Budapest, Hungary - decathlon - 6th
- 1998 EIC Valencia, Spain - heptathlon - DNF
- 1999 WIC Maebashi, Japan - heptathlon - 3rd
- 1999 WC Sevilla, Spain - decathlon - DNF
- 2000 OG Sydney, Australia - decathlon - 2nd
- 2000 EIC Gent, Belgium - heptathlon - 2nd
- 2001 WIC Lisbon, Portugal - heptathlon - 1st
- 2002 EIC Wien, Austria - heptathlon - 1st
- 2002 EC Munich, Germany - decathlon - 1st (8800 points)
- 2003 WIC Birmingham, England - heptathlon - 3rd
- 2003 WC Paris, France - decathlon - 2nd
- 2004 WIC Budapest, Hungary - heptathlon - 1st (6438 points)
- 2004 OG Athens, Greece - decathlon - 1st (8893 points)
- 2005 WC Helsinki, Finland - decathlon - 2nd
- 2006 EC Gothenburg, Sweden - decathlon - 1st (8526 points)
- 2007 EIC Birmingham, England - heptathlon - 1st (6438 points)
[edit] References
- ^ "Major Šebrle ready to fire!" (in Czech). Ministry of Defense of the Czech Rep.. Retrieved on 2007-03-17.
- ^ Interview with Šebrle. radio.cz. Retrieved on 2007-03-17.
- ^ Biography:Roman Šebrle. IAAF. Retrieved on 2007-03-01.
- ^ Roman Šebrle's profile. olympic.org. Retrieved on 2007-03-01.
- ^ Kühnl promoted Šebrle to Major (in Czech). sport.cz. Retrieved on 2007-03-17.
- ^ Biography:Roman Šebrle. IAAF. Retrieved on 2007-03-01.
- ^ Chat with a personality: Roman Šebrle (in Czech). týden.cz. Retrieved on 2007-03-17.
- ^ Winners of the Best Athletes of the Year. ABC Prague. Retrieved on 2007-03-01.
- ^ Winners of the Czech Sportsman of the Year (in Czech). Klub sportovních novinářů ČR. Retrieved on 2007-03-01.
- ^ Lucky to be alive. BBC Sport. Retrieved on 2007-02-28.
- ^ Speared decathlon champion Sebrle '20cm from death'. Yahoo Sport. Retrieved on 2007-03-01.
- ^ Šebrle's shoulder decorated with 11 stitches (includes photo, text in Czech). Idnes.cz. Retrieved on 2007-04-01.
[edit] External links
- IAAF profile for Roman Sebrle
| Olympic champions in the all around, pentathlon and decathlon |
|---|
| As all-around: Tom Kiely |
| As pentathlon: Hjalmer Mellander | Jim Thorpe | Eero Lehtonen (twice) |
| As decathlon: Jim Thorpe | Helge Løvland | Harold Osborn | Paavo Yrjölä | James Bausch | Glenn Morris | Bob Mathias (twice) | Milt Campbell | Rafer Johnson | Willi Holdorf | Bill Toomey | Nikolay Avilov | Bruce Jenner | Daley Thompson (twice) | Christian Schenk | Robert Změlík | Dan O'Brien | Erki Nool | Roman Šebrle |
