Hana Říčná (born 20 December 1968) is a Czechoslovak former

artistic gymnast Artistic gymnastics is a discipline of gymnastics in which athletes perform short routines on different types of apparatus. The sport is governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG), which assigns the '' Code of Points'' used ...

. She won two medals at the

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– a silver on the

balance beam The balance beam is a rectangular artistic gymnastics apparatus and an event performed using the apparatus. The apparatus and the event are sometimes simply called "beam". The English abbreviation for the event in gymnastics scoring is BB. The bal ...

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

and a bronze on the uneven bars in

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. She competed at the 1984 Friendship Games and won a silver medal in the all-around and on the balance beam. She also won a silver medal on beam at the 1985 European Championships. She represented Czechoslovakia at the 1988 Summer Olympics.

Gymnastics career

Říčná began competing at the senior level in 1983 and finished 13th in the all-around at the 1983 European Championships. She qualified for the uneven bars and floor exercise final, finishing eighth and sixth, respectively. Then at the 1983 World Championships, she helped the Czechoslovak team finish sixth. She advanced to the all-around final and finished 14th. She also advanced to the uneven bars final and finished eighth. Then in the balance beam final, she won the silver medal behind

Olga Mostepanova Olga Vasilyevna Mostepanova (; born 3 January 1969) is a retired former Soviet gymnast. She won three gold medals at the World Championships. Personal life Mostepanova's birth year has been variously reported as 1968 or 1969. She herself state ...

. Říčná finished seventh in the all-around at the 1984

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and tied with

Mary Lou Retton Mary Lou Retton (born January 24, 1968) is an American retired gymnast. At the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, she won a gold medal in the individual all-around competition, as well as two silver medals and two bronze medals. Retton's per ...

for the balance beam title. Due to Czechoslovakia joining the Soviet-led boycott of the 1984 Summer Olympics, she competed at the 1984 Friendship Games. There, she won the all-around silver medal behind Mostepanova despite scoring perfect 10s on the vault and uneven bars. She helped her country win the bronze medal in the team event. She also finished second to Mostepanova in the balance beam final. She tied for fourth place in the balance beam final and finished eighth in the uneven bars final. Říčná finished fourth in the all-around, uneven bars, and floor exercise finals at the 1985 European Championships. She did win the silver medal on the balance beam behind Oksana Omelianchik. Then at the 1985 World Championships, she won a bronze medal on the uneven bars behind Gabriele Fähnrich and Dagmar Kersten. She also finished eighth in the all-around and fifth on the balance beam. Říčná represented Czechoslovakia at the 1988 Summer Olympics and helped the

team A team is a group of individuals (human or non-human) working together to achieve their goal. As defined by Professor Leigh Thompson of the Kellogg School of Management, " team is a group of people who are interdependent with respect to in ...

finish seventh. She qualified for the individual all-around final and finished 29th.

Post-gymnastics

Říčná moved to the United States in 1994 and began coaching gymnastics. She married Lorin Jessen, who is also a gymnastics coach. Her son, David Jessen, is an elite gymnast who represented the

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

at the

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. Her daughter Sandra also competed in gymnastics for

Stanford Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth governor of and th ...

. In 2025, she opened the Ricna Elite Gymnastics Academy in

Hazleton, Pennsylvania Hazleton is a city in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 29,963 at the 2020 census. Hazleton is the second-most populous city in Luzerne County. It was incorporated as a borough on January 5, 1857, and as a city on ...

Eponymous skill

Říčná has an uneven bars release move named after her in the Code of Points.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ricna, Hana 1968 births Living people Gymnasts from Brno Czechoslovak female artistic gymnasts Olympic gymnasts for Czechoslovakia Gymnasts at the 1988 Summer Olympics Medalists at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships Originators of elements in artistic gymnastics Friendship Games medalists in gymnastics Czech emigrants to the United States Czech sports coaches Female sports coaches Czech female artistic gymnasts Gymnastics coaches