Jiří Ježek (born 16 October 1974 in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

) is a former Czech road and track racing

cyclist Cycling, also known as bicycling or biking, is the activity of riding a bicycle or other types of pedal-driven human-powered vehicles such as balance bikes, unicycles, tricycles, and quadricycles. Cycling is practised around the world fo ...

and

Paralympian The Paralympic Games or Paralympics is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disabilities. There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Kore ...

who has won medals at each of the past three

Paralympic Games The Paralympic Games or Paralympics is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disability, disabilities. There are Winter Paralympic Games, Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 ...

Career

At the age of 11, Jiří Ježek lost his right leg below the knee in a car accident and by the age of 20 he had taken up competitive cycling as a hobby. After five years of hard training Ježek began to emerge as one of the world's top cyclists riding in the paralympic LC2 (locomotor disabilities) category. As an amateur he competed in his first Paralympic Games in Sydney in 2000 winning two gold medals. After this success he continued to ride as an amateur but started intensifying his training regime, taking it up to a more professional level. Thanks to the support of sponsors he was able to leave his job as a

prosthetics In medicine, a prosthesis (: prostheses; from ), or a prosthetic implant, is an artificial device that replaces a missing body part, which may be lost through physical trauma, disease, or a condition present at birth (congenital disorder). Prosthe ...

technician and begin his present career as a professional cyclist. In 2004 Ježek won gold in the prestigious Paralympic road race in Athens. Since then he has continued to ride at the very highest level, winning several championship titles and numerous races. At the Paralympic Games in Beijing 2008 whilst serving as captain of the Czech National Paralympic Team, he won gold in both the 4 km pursuit and time trial events. Spurred on by his Paralympic cycling achievements Ježek began not only to compete with other disabled riders but also with professional able-bodied riders against whom he regularly races in many important events around the world. Altogether Ježek competes in anywhere between 55 and 75 races worldwide each year and, including training, covers an annual distance of between 27 and 30 thousand kilometers. Off the bike he is regularly involved with other work including

motivational speaking Motivation is an mental state, internal state that propels individuals to engage in goal-directed behavior. It is often understood as a force that explains why people or animals initiate, continue, or terminate a certain behavior at a particul ...

, supporting charities, organising children's cycle races and advising in the development of prosthetic limbs. In 2008 he wrote an autobiography entitled "Frajer". Jiří Ježek has stated that he is "not just cycling for the Czech Republic but also for all of those who suffer from a disability of one sort or another". He was appointed as a member of the inaugural UCI Athletes' Commission in 2011. Ježek suffered serious injuries during the 2014

UCI UCI most commonly refers to: * University of California, Irvine, a public university in Irvine, California, United States * Union Cycliste Internationale, the world governing body for the sport of cycling UCI may also refer to: * Uganda Cancer In ...

Para-cycling Road World Championships in

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, USA. He injured his chest after a fall, sustaining multiple fractures, but was released from hospital the same month. On 14 October 2017 Ježek announced his retirement from professional cycling aged 43. In 2024, he participates in the 13th season of Czech dancing reality TV show ''

StarDance ''Stardance'' is a science fiction novel by Spider Robinson and Jeanne Robinson, published by Dial Press in 1979 as part of its Quantum science fiction line. The novel's opening segment originally appeared in '' Analog'' in 1977 as the novella ...

'' with his professional partner .

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jezek, Jiri 1974 births Living people Czech male cyclists Paralympic cyclists for the Czech Republic Cyclists at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Cyclists at the 2004 Summer Paralympics Cyclists at the 2000 Summer Paralympics Paralympic gold medalists for the Czech Republic Paralympic silver medalists for the Czech Republic Paralympic bronze medalists for the Czech Republic Cyclists from Prague Cyclists at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2000 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2004 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Paralympic medalists in cycling