Katerina NEUMANNOVA

Czech athletes had competed at the Winter Games, either under their own flag or that of Czechoslovakia, since the inaugural Games of 1924 but no Czech woman had ever claimed an Olympic title until Kateřina Neumannová’s victory in Torino in 2006. For Neumannová this was the culmination of a long career that took in 5 Winter Olympics and 8 World Championships over a 16 year period. She wasted little time in establishing herself as one of the world’s top skiers and scored her maiden World Cup victory in late 1992 whilst still a teenager. This was the first of 18 World Cup victories. Although she won a trio of silver medals and a bronze across the 1998 and 2002 Winter Games and a pair of World Championship bronze medals, it was not until 2005 that she won her first major title, the 10 km title at the World Championship at Oberstdorf. At the Torino Olympics she placed 2nd and 5th in her first two races before emerging victorious from a three woman sprint finish in the 30 km mass start event. She retained her world title in 2007 before retiring at the end of the season although she continued to make sporadic appearances in marathon races.

Part of her summer training involved mountain biking and she became so good at this sport that she was chosen for the Czech national team and earned a bronze medal at the 1995 European championships. She was then chosen for the Atlanta Games where she became one of only four competitors who have combined mountain biking and cross country skiing at Olympic level. In 2009 she was elected vice-president of the athletes’ commission of the European Olympic Committees.