Eva SURANOVA

Eva Kucmanová (later Šuranová) was born in the Hungarian village of Ózd, next to the Slovakian border. She was a versatile athlete, winning the Czechoslovakian pentathlon title in 1967, but mostly concentrated on the long jump, in which she won the Czechoslovakian title eight times (1965-69, 1972, 1974-75) and earned two international medals. The first of these came at the 1972 Olympics, where her bronze medal made her the first Slovakian to win a track and field medal at the Olympics. The distance she reached in the final, 6.67, would remain her personal best. Two years later, she won a silver at the European Championships. Šuranová also competed at the Europeans in 1966 and 1969, making the finals both times, and 1978. She was world ranked three times in the long jump – second in 1974, third in 1972, and fourth in 1969.

In addition to her long jump exploits, Šuranová won a national title in the 100 m (1975), two in the 100 m hurdles (1968-69), one in 4x100 (1978) and one in the 50 m indoor (1976). In 1966 she ran the 100 hurdles in 14.3, at the time the best mark on record for women, although the event was not yet recognized for world records by the IAAF. During her career she set a total of 25 Czechoslovak national records. After failing to produce a valid qualifying jump at the 1976 Montréal Games, Šuranová retired from sports.

Personal Best: LJ – 6.67 (1972).