Rudolf Götz (born 10 April 1983 in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

) is a Czech sprinter, who specialized in the

400 metres The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics (sport), athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor runn ...

. He set a personal best time of 45.78 seconds at the 2008 Ostrava Golden Spike in

Ostrava Ostrava (; pl, Ostrawa; german: Ostrau ) is a city in the north-east of the Czech Republic, and the capital of the Moravian-Silesian Region. It has about 280,000 inhabitants. It lies from the border with Poland, at the confluences of four rive ...

, earning him a spot on the Czech track and field team for the Olympics. He is also a member of the athletics team for ASK Slavia Praha, and is coached and trained by Petr Novotny. Gotz represented the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

, where he competed for the men's 400 metres. He ran in the fourth heat against seven other athletes, including Great Britain's

Martyn Rooney Martyn Joseph Rooney (born 3 April 1987) is an English Sprint (running), sprinter who specialises in the 400 metres event. He reached the 400 m final at the 2008 Summer Olympics and won bronze in the 4×400 metres relay. A mainstay on the a ...

and Jamaica's

Ricardo Chambers Ricardo Chambers (born 7 October 1984) is a Jamaican track and field athlete who specialises in the 400 metres. Hailing from Trelawny Parish in Jamaica, he moved to the United States to study on a sports scholarship at Florida State Universi ...

, both of whom were heavy favorites in this event. He finished the race in sixth place by one hundredth of a second (0.01) ahead of Japan's

Yuzo Kanemaru is a male Japanese sprinter. He set his 400 metres personal best at the 2009 Osaka Grand Prix The Golden Grand Prix Osaka is an international athletics competition in Osaka, Japan, held in May at the Yanmar Stadium Nagai , known as the Ya ...

, with a time of 46.38 seconds. Gotz, however, failed to advance into the semi-finals, as he placed forty-second overall, and was ranked farther below three mandatory slots for the next round.

References

External links

*
Profile – Czech Athletics Federation

1983 births Living people Czech male sprinters Olympic athletes for the Czech Republic Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Athletes from Prague {{CzechRepublic-athletics-bio-stub