Jiří Raška (; 4 February 1941 – 20 January 2012) was a Czechoslovakian ski jumper. He is regarded as the most famous

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 *Czech (surnam ...

ski jump Ski jumping is a winter sport in which competitors aim to achieve the farthest jump after sliding down on their skis from a specially designed curved ramp. Along with jump length, competitor's aerial style and other factors also affect the fin ...

er in the 20th century.

Early life

He was born in

Frenštát pod Radhoštěm Frenštát pod Radhoštěm (; ) is a town in Nový Jičín District in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 11,000 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument z ...

in 1941. His father died of

leukaemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia; pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and produce high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or '' ...

when Jiří Raška was nine years old, leaving his mother to raise four children on her own. His interest in winter sports was not surprising. His cousin and uncle, both active jumpers, took him as their disciple. ''"We were saying that children in Frenštát are born with skis on their feet,"'' Raška said in the interview for Czech newspaper

Lidové noviny ''Lidové noviny'' (''People's News'', or ''The People's Newspaper'', ) is a daily newspaper published in Prague, the Czech Republic. It is the oldest Czech daily still in print, and a newspaper of record. It is a national news daily covering po ...

. Raška was however also active in other sports, like

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

cycling 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

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...

Introduction to ski jumping

As a young jumper he got into coach Zdeněk Remsa's legendary group, the “Remsa Boys”. When military service on

Šumava The Bohemian Forest, known in Czech language, Czech as () and in German language, German as , is a low mountain range in Central Europe. Geographically, the mountains extend from Plzeň Region and the South Bohemian Region in the Czech Republi ...

threatened Raška’s budding career, Remsa arranged his entrance into the military sports club Dukla Liberec. In 1964 he travelled to the

Winter Olympic Games The Winter Olympic Games (), also known as the Winter Olympics, 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 held in ...

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as a substitute. There he watched Josef Matouš, who led after the first round and had an opportunity to become the second Czech individual Winter Olympic medalist, but ended up without a medal. Four years later, Raška was in a similar situation.

Career successes

Thanks to the fourth place in the 1966 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships and a second place in the

Four Hills Tournament The Four Hills Tournament () or the German-Austrian Ski Jumping Week () is a ski jumping event composed of four World Cup events and has taken place in Germany and Austria each year since 1953. With few exceptions, it has consisted of the ski ju ...

, he travelled to the

1968 Winter Olympics The 1968 Winter Olympics, officially known as the X Olympic Winter Games (), were a winter multi-sport event held from 6 to 18 February 1968 in Grenoble, France. Thirty-seven countries participated. The 1968 Winter Games marked the first time ...

Grenoble Grenoble ( ; ; or ; or ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of the Isère Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region ...

as one of the favourites. Raška himself was hoping to take the fifth place and would not have been disappointed with the tenth place. Czech writer

Ota Pavel Ota Pavel (born ''Otto Popper''; 2 July 1930, in Prague – 31 March 1973, in Prague) was a Czech writer, journalist and sport reporter. He is primarily an author of autobiographical and biographical novels. Biography He was born in Prague a ...

described his first jump in the normal hill event: ''"It was a beautiful flight in the infinite silence, that took short human age. Painter and editor Ota Mašek nearly fainted, photographer Jarda Skála stopped photographing. Coach Remsa was washing his face with snow and squeaking Norwegian Wirkola stopped squeaking."'' Raška jumped 79 metres, which was less than Austrian Baldur Preiml, but thanks to better style he led after the first round. In the second jump he did not fare well, reaching only 72.5 meters, but he went on to victory. Jiří Raška became the first Czech winner in the Winter Olympics. He added the silver medal in the large hill event, beaten only by Vladimir Beloussov of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. On 22 March 1969, he set two world records, both at the opening of Velikanka bratov Gorišek in

Planica Planica () is an Alpine valley in northwestern Slovenia, extending south from the border village of Rateče, not far from another well-known ski resort, Kranjska Gora. Further south, the valley extends into the Tamar Valley, a popular hikin ...

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

. First he tied at 156 metres (512 ft) and then on 164 metres (538 ft), which lasted one day only. That year he managed to win six races in a row. At the 1970 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Vysoké Tatry, over a hundred thousand visitors came to see him jump. He finished second in the large hill event and eighth in the normal hill event. Raška's other successes included a silver medal at the World Championships in the large hill in 1970, victory in the

the year after, bronze in the historically first

Ski-flying World Championships The FIS Ski Flying World Championships is a ski flying event organised by the International Ski Federation (FIS) since 1972 and held every two years. Overview The event takes place on hills much larger than ski jumping hills, with the construct ...

, and fifth place in the

1972 Winter Olympics The 1972 Winter Olympics, officially the and commonly known as Sapporo 1972 (), were a winter multi-sport event held from February 3 to 13, 1972, in Sapporo, Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan. It was the first Winter Olympic Games to take place outside ...

Sapporo is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in Hokkaido, Japan. Located in the southwest of Hokkaido, it lies within the alluvial fan of the Toyohira River, a tributary of the Ishikari River. Sapporo is the capital ...

. In 1974 he became a coach but continued with active jumping. ''"I decided to end immediately once the first junior beats me,"'' he said to the Czech newspaper

Hospodářské noviny ''Hospodářské noviny'' () is a national daily newspaper published in the Czech Republic. History and profile ''Hospodářské noviny'' was first published on 21 May 1990. The paper is headquartered in Prague and has a specific focus on econom ...

. Thus he ended his competition career in 1976 after being defeated by František Novák.

Coaching career

Between 1994 and 1996 he was together with Medal and later on Malec coach of the Czech representation. During the 1990s he was also a coach of the Czech junior representation and vice-chair of the Czech Ski Union. In the Union’s poll he was elected as a Czech skier of the century. He died in 2012 in

Nový Jičín Nový Jičín (; ) is a town in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 23,000 inhabitants. The historic centre of Nový Jičín is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument (Czech Republic)#Monument reservati ...

Ski jumping world records

References

External links

Profile on the site of Czech Olympic Committee

Archive interviews with Raška in v Grenoble

Profile on Sportovci.cz
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Raska, Jiri 1941 births 2012 deaths Czech male ski jumpers Czechoslovak male ski jumpers Ski jumpers at the 1968 Winter Olympics Ski jumpers at the 1972 Winter Olympics Olympic ski jumpers for Czechoslovakia Olympic gold medalists for Czechoslovakia Olympic silver medalists for Czechoslovakia Sports world record setters Olympic medalists in ski jumping FIS Nordic World Ski Championships medalists in ski jumping Medalists at the 1968 Winter Olympics People from Frenštát pod Radhoštěm Skiers from the Moravian-Silesian Region