Michal Martikán

Michal Martikán

Martikán in 2005 in Čunovo
Personal information
Full name	Michal Martikán
Nationality	Slovak
Born	(1979-05-18) 18 May 1979 Liptovský Mikuláš, Czechoslovakia
Height	1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Weight	74 kilograms (163 lb)
Website	http://www.michalmartikan.sk
Sport
Country	Slovakia
Sport	Canoe slalom
Event(s)	C-1
Club	Dukla Liptovský Mikuláš
Medal record Olympic Games Gold 1996 Atlanta C-1 Silver 2000 Sydney C-1 Silver 2004 Athens C-1 Gold 2008 Beijing C-1 Bronze 2012 London C-1 World Championships Bronze 1995 Nottingham C-1 Bronze 1995 Nottingham C-1 team Gold 1997 Três Coroas C-1 Gold 1997 Três Coroas C-1 team Bronze 1999 La Seu d'Urgell C-1 Bronze 1999 La Seu d'Urgell C-1 team Gold 2002 Bourg St.-Maurice C-1 Gold 2003 Augsburg C-1 Gold 2003 Augsburg C-1 team Bronze 2005 Penrith C-1 Silver 2006 Prague C-1 Gold 2007 Foz do Iguaçu C-1 Silver 2009 La Seu d'Urgell C-1 Gold 2009 La Seu d'Urgell C-1 team Silver 2010 Tacen C-1 Gold 2010 Tacen C-1 team Gold 2011 Bratislava C-1 team Gold 2013 Prague C-1 team European Championships Silver 1998 Roudnice nad Labem C-1 Gold 1998 Roudnice nad Labem C-1 team Gold 2000 Mezzana C-1 team Gold 2002 Bratislava C-1 team Gold 2005 Tacen C-1 team Silver 2006 L'Argentière-la-Bessée C-1 Silver 2006 L'Argentière-la-Bessée C-1 team Gold 2007 Liptovský Mikuláš C-1 Gold 2007 Liptovský Mikuláš C-1 team Gold 2008 Kraków C-1 Gold 2008 Kraków C-1 team Gold 2009 Nottingham C-1 Gold 2010 Bratislava C-1 Gold 2010 Bratislava C-1 team Gold 2012 Augsburg C-1 team

Michal Martikán (Slovak pronunciation: [ˈmɪxal ˈmartɪkaːn]; born 18 May 1979 in Liptovský Mikuláš) is a Slovak slalom canoeist who has been competing since the mid-1990s. In 1996 he became the first athlete to win an Olympic Games gold medal for Slovakia since the country gained independence in 1993. In total he won 5 Olympic medals (2 golds, 2 silvers and 1 bronze), which is the most among all slalom paddlers. He has also won the World Championship title in the C-1 individual category four times. He is considered by many the greatest C-1 slalom paddler alive.

Career

At the age of 16, Michal Martikán became the youngest winner of a World Cup slalom canoeing event.^[1] Three months later, at age 17, Martikán was in sixth place after the first run of the canoe slalom singles event at the 1996 Olympics. With nothing to lose, he went all out on the second run and just bettered the score of defending champion Lukáš Pollert of the Czech Republic. Martikán was the first Olympic champion to represent independent Slovakia. He entered the 2000 Olympics as the favourite, having consistently finished near the top in every major competition and in each World Cup series. At the Sydney Games, Martikán registered the best score in the qualifying round, but was only in fifth place after the first run of the final. In the second run, he paddled a perfect course and his time was the fastest of the round. He was able to move up to the silver medal position behind Tony Estanguet of France. Competing in his third Olympics in 2004, Martikán again led the qualifying round. He also earned the highest score in the semifinals, which also served as the first run of the final. After the second run, it appeared that Martikán had regained the Olympic title, but the referees controversially decided to award him a two second penalty which pushed him to second place, only 12 hundredths of a second behind Estanguet. Martikán regained the Olympic title at the 2008 games in Beijing.^[2] At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London Martikán took bronze. Michal Martikán is the only slalom canoeist to win five Olympic medals, one in each of the five games from 1996 through 2012.

At the World Championships, Martikán had an uninterrupted medal run in the individual C-1 event between 1995 and 2010. The 2011 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships saw him finish outside the medals for the first time in an Olympic or World Championship individual race in his career. Ironically, this failure came in front of a home crowd on the Čunovo course near Bratislava. However, he managed to win gold in the team event with his Slovak teammates to prolong his medal run. He won another gold medal in the C-1 team event at the 2013 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships in Prague, making it 12 straight World Championships with a medal.

He won his first medals in 1995 when he was just 16. He took a bronze in the C-1 event and another bronze in the C-1 team event. In 1997 he won his first individual world title as well as team gold. He won the individual C-1 event on three more occasions (2002, 2003 and 2007). As of 2013 he has a total of 17 World Championship medals (10 golds, 3 silvers and 4 bronzes) which is more than any other slalom paddler in any category.

He has also won the overall World Cup title four times (1998, 2000, 2001, 2006), which is a record among C-1 paddlers.

At the European Championships he has won four straight individual golds between 2007 and 2010. Slovakia won the C-1 team event 8 times with him in the team. He also has 3 silver medals (2 individual and 1 in team event).

Manslaughter conviction

In November 1997 Martikán was involved in a car accident near the village of Velké Zálužie, Slovakia.^[3] The car he was driving hit a pedestrian causing him fatal injuries. The investigation concluded that Martikán was traveling substantially over the 40 km/h speed limit. It was also found that the killed man was intoxicated at the time of the accident.

With Martikán facing actual incarceration due to the violation of his probation terms, then-president Rudolf Schuster, amid grave criticism, granted Martikán a presidential pardon,^[4] which besides sparing him from jail time effectively meant removal of the conviction from his criminal record. Schuster argued that Martikán's positive athletic representation of the country abroad warranted the pardon, while critics pointed to the double standard and the preferential treatment Martikán was receiving as a sport celebrity.

See also

• List of multiple Olympic medalists in one event

References

External links

• Michal Martikán at Sports-Reference.com
• 2010 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships 12 September 2010 C-1 men's final results. – accessed 12 September 2010.
• 2010 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships 12 September 2010 C-1 men's team final results – accessed 12 September 2010.
• 12 September 2009 final results of the men's C-1 team slalom event for the 2009 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships. – accessed 12 September 2009.
• 13 September 2009 final results of the men's C-1 event at the 2009 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships. – accessed 13 September 2009.
• ICF medalists for Olympic and World Championships – Part 2: rest of flatwater (now sprint) and remaining canoeing disciplines: 1936–2007.
• Sports-reference.com profile

Olympic Games
Preceded by Slavomír Kňazovický	Flagbearer for  Slovakia Athens 2004	Succeeded by Elena Kaliská