Kateřina Neumannová () (born 15 February 1973) is a

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...

retired cross-country skier. She won an Olympic gold medal in the 2006 Winter Olympics, in the 30 km freestyle event. She is one of five cross country skiers to have competed at six Olympics. She was also the first Czech woman to appear in both a Summer and Winter Olympics, having participated in the

mountain biking Mountain biking is a sport of riding bicycles off-road, often over rough terrain, usually using specially designed mountain bikes. Mountain bikes share similarities with other bikes but incorporate features designed to enhance durability and pe ...

event at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

. Neumannová retired after the 2006-07 World Cup season.

Career overview

She was a flatwater

canoeist Canoeing is an activity which involves paddling a canoe with a single-bladed paddle. Common meanings of the term are limited to when the canoeing is the central purpose of the activity. Broader meanings include when it is combined with other acti ...

and downhill skier before moving to cross country skiing at sixteen. Neumannová made her first appearance in the Winter Olympics in 1992 in Albertville. Her goal was only to gain experience.Profile on Czech Olympic Committee's webpage
, accessed 22 August 2006 However, in all races (both individual and relay) she belonged to the best Czechoslovak athletes. Two years later, in Lillehammer, she was already among the best. She was 8th in 5 km classical and 6th in combination with 10 km free. Her training during summer involved riding mountain bike and when the sport become popular she decided to race in it. Thanks to her strong muscles she quickly achieved successes. In 1995, she won a bronze medal at the European Championships,"Neumannová neví, zda bude jezdit",

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, 10 April 1996 page 23 and she also qualified for the

in Atlanta. Although cross-country skiing remained her main sport and her summer training was usually lighter she took preparations for Atlanta seriously. "This time I left out the pleasant period and started abruptly. Thanks to it I achieved results in athletic tests that I last run in junior categories,"Original (Czech): "Tentokrát jsem příjemné období vynechala a šla jsem na to rovnou zostra. Díky tomu jsem při atletických testech zaběhla časy, jakých jsem naposledy dosáhla v juniorkách" she said before the Olympics. But her preparations were not in the best conditions. She practised in cold weather in

Šumava The Bohemian Forest, known in Czech as Šumava () and in German as Böhmerwald, is a low mountain range in Central Europe. Geographically, the mountains extend from Plzeň Region and South Bohemia in the Czech Republic to Austria and Bavaria ...

while great heat was expected for the Atlanta race."Neumannová se na vedro málem chystala ve sněhu",

, 18 July 1996, page 18, available through (registration required) On 31 July 1996, she became the first Czech female athlete to compete on both Winter and Summer Olympics when starting in the mountain bike race at the

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, United States. But the race itself was a horror for her. She fell off the bike early in the race. "I overrun about 15 racers but then a terrible crisis came upon me. I did not race anymore, I just wanted to finish," she described the race.Original (Czech): "Dojela jsem asi patnáct závodnic, ale pak na mě padla hrozná krize. Už jsem nezávodila, jen jsem se snažila dojet." She mainly complained about the terrible heat and said it was one of her worst experiences.

First major medal

Neumannová started the 1996/1997 season with a fourth place in the World Cup opener. The race took place in Kiruna and was run on 5 km free. Neumannová was content with the result but complained about soft snow she did not like. "If the track was more firm, I believe I would stand on the platform", she commented.Original (Czech): "Kdyby trať byla tvrdší, věřím, že bych stála na stupni vítězů" At the end of the year she clearly dominated the Czech Championships on 5 km free and 10 km classic. She commented it was mainly training for her as the main goal for the season was World Championships. For it she announced a goal to finish among best six. Only two weeks later, on 11 and 12 January, she achieved two second places in the World Cup. It was again on the 5 km and 10 km distances, but this time it was 5 km classic and 10 km free. The race was run in

Hakuba is a village located in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. , the village had an estimated population of 9,007 in 4267 households, and a population density of 48 persons per km2. The total area of the village is . Hakuba is an internationally renowned s ...

, Japan on the tracks ready for

1998 Winter Olympics The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially known as the and commonly known as Nagano 1998 ( ja, 長野1998), was a winter multi-sport event held from 7 to 22 February 1998, mainly in Nagano, Japan, with some events taking place in th ...

On 17 February 2005, she won the 10 km free at the

Nordic skiing World Championships The FIS Nordic World Ski Championships is a biennial nordic skiing event organized by the International Ski Federation (FIS). The World Championships was started in 1925 for men and opened for women's participation in 1954. World Championship eve ...

. Neumannová defended her 10 km free title at the following

championships In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

Sapporo ( ain, サッ・ポロ・ペッ, Satporopet, lit=Dry, Great River) is a city in Japan. It is the largest city north of Tokyo and the largest city on Hokkaido, the northernmost main island of the country. It ranks as the fifth most populous city ...

on 27 February 2007. On 24 February 2006, in her 20th and final Olympic race, Neumannová won her sixth Olympic medal, but first

Winter Olympic The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were he ...

gold medal in the 30 km freestyle mass start and became the oldest winner in the event. On 14 January 2007 Neumannová received the title Czech Sportsperson of the Year 2006, a trophy awarded by journalists in the Czech Republic.

2009 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships

In late 2006, Neumannová was named an honorary vice president of the organizing committee for the

FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2009 The FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2009 ( cs, Mistrovství světa v klasickém lyžování Liberec 2009) took place 18 February – 1 March 2009 in Liberec, Czech Republic. This was the fourth time these championships were hosted either in ...

Liberec Liberec (; german: Reichenberg ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 103,000 inhabitants and it is the fifth-largest city in the country. It lies on the Lusatian Neisse, in a basin surrounded by mountains. The city centre is well prese ...

, the Czech Republic. On 25 July 2007, she succeeded Roman Kumpost as chair of the organizing committee for the 2009 championships.FIS NewsFlash 138. 1 August 2007.

Cross-country skiing results

All results are sourced from the International Ski Federation (FIS).

Olympic Games

* 6 medals – (1 gold, 4 silver, 1 bronze)

World Championships

* 5 medals – (2 gold, 1 silver, 2 bronze) :a. Cancelled due to extremely cold weather.

World Cup

Season standings

Individual podiums

*19 victories – (18 , 1 ) *49 podiums – (48 , 1 )

Team podiums

* 1 victory – (1 ) * 2 podiums – (1 , 1 ) Note: Until the 1999 World Championships, World Championship races were included in the World Cup scoring system.

Personal life

On 2 July 2003, Neumannová gave birth to a girl named Lucie.

References

External links

* * *
Kateřina Neumannová
at Czech.cz * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Neumannova, Katerina Cross-country skiers at the 1992 Winter Olympics Cross-country skiers at the 1994 Winter Olympics Cross-country skiers at the 1998 Winter Olympics Cross-country skiers at the 2002 Winter Olympics Cross-country skiers at the 2006 Winter Olympics Cyclists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Czech female cross-country skiers Czech female cyclists Czech mountain bikers Olympic cross-country skiers of Czechoslovakia Olympic cross-country skiers of the Czech Republic Olympic cyclists of the Czech Republic Olympic gold medalists for the Czech Republic Olympic silver medalists for the Czech Republic Olympic bronze medalists for the Czech Republic Sportspeople from Písek 1973 births Living people Recipients of Medal of Merit (Czech Republic) Olympic medalists in cross-country skiing FIS Nordic World Ski Championships medalists in cross-country skiing Medalists at the 2006 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2002 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1998 Winter Olympics