(1922-2020)
Dana Zátopková, javelin thrower, Olympic winner from Helsinki in 1952. Eight years later, she won Olympic silver in Rome. The multiple Czech champion became the European champion twice (1954 and 1958) and in 1958, at the age of 35, she set the world record by a throw of 55.73 meters. Dana Zátopková stayed with sports even after ending her active career in 1962. She worked as a coach, and in 1960-1972, she was a member of the Women’s Commission of the International Athletics Federation. In 1998, she received the Olympic Order. She was the wife of four-time Olympic champion Emil Zátopek. Both were born on 19 September 1922, and they became Olympic champions in Helsinki on the same day, too. She outlived her runner husband by many years and died in 2020 at the age of 97.