| Ôàòåõ Âåðãàñîâ Fatekh Vergasov | |
| Olga Fikotova-Connolly Born: November 13, 1932 in Prague - she lives in California | |
1956
June
- Equestrian events held in Sweden
July
- Suez Canal crisis began with the nationalization of canal by Egypt
October - November - Britain, France and Israel
attacked Egypt. Egypt, Lebanon and Iraq withdrew from participation in the
Olympic Games
November - Russian troops invaded Hungary. In
protest, Luxembourg, Spain, Holland and Switzerland withdrew from Games.
(Switzerland later changed its mind but was unable to make the trip to
Australia in time.) Tension between Formosa (Taiwan) and People's Republic
of China led to the withdrawal of both from the Games
November 22 - December 08 - Olympic Games held
in Melbourne
    Olga
won the first two women's discus competitions held at the Relays. She was
already internationally known before she first set foot in the Mt. SAC
discus circle.In 1956, she won a gold medal at the Melbourne Olympics for Czechoslovakia while competing under her maiden name Olga Fikotova [some time you may meet a little different spelling - Fikatova] It was at that Olympics that she met America's gold medal winning hammer thrower, Hal Connolly. They later married, and Olga began to compete for the U.S. Olga would make four more Olympic teams as a U.S. citizen. Although she did not win another medal, she did win the respect of her teammates so much that she was elected to carry the U.S. flag at the opening ceremony of the 1972 Munich Olympics. Olga captured five U.S. national titles. She raised the American record four times, adding over 15 feet to the previous record Copyright © 2003 Mt. San Antonio College. All Rights Reserved Harold Connolly,
an American hammer thrower, and
Olga Fikotova,
a Czechoslovakian discus thrower, both won gold medals at the Melbourne
Games. If this was not enough to draw attention to them then their romance
at the Olympic Village and subsequent marriage after the Games was.
The two
athletes had met several times during international athletics competitions
but it was not until Melbourne that a romance really developed.
Their
marriage ceremonies presented cold war era diplomats with plenty of
difficulties but finally took place in 1957, first in Prague and later in
the United States.
The pair were
divorced in 1973. Olga recounted the romance in her book "The rings of
destiny", (New York, David McKay Co., 1968, Library of Congress Card
Number 68 - 20777 )
Olga Connolly, Olympic discus champion in
Melbourne in 1956 under the name of
Fikotova, signed her book in Mexico
where she was wearing the colors of the United States team for the third
time.
Both as an autobiography and an essay,
this work relates the life of the champion, but it also tries to explain
the significance of the Olympic Games and to show that the Games are "an
opportunity for a free exchange of opinions and ideas which will
strengthen the Olympic Movement." "I wanted", explains Olga Cjnnolly "to
reaffirm the possibility of humanity to get together through these Games.
"And she adds "I felt the Olympic Games
have been largely misunderstood or unknown to many people and I wanted to
write something giving the broadness of the scope of the Games. I wanted
to paint an unbiased view of the Olympics, which in my case happened to be
in Melbourne but the view is the same no matter where the Games have been
held: London, Rome or here".
State Library of Victoria
Since 1951 Olga Fikotova lived in City of Libich, 7 miles North from Prague She was a student of pharmaceutical faculty of Karl's University It was November 12, when Harold (Hal) Connolly met Olga Fikotova first time 24 April 1957. Olympic winners Harold Connolly and bride Olga Fikotova arrive in U.S. after Czech government approved emigration Najveće zvijezde te olimpijade bili su češka diskašica Olga Fikotova i američki kladivaš Harold Connolly, koji su se zaljubili i iduće godine vjenčali u Pragu pred 40 000 okupljenih, među kojima su bili ljudi s obe strane "željezne zavjese". 
Their romance captured the imagination of the
world
She
was 38 and had given birth to her four children by the time of the 1972
Olympics in Munich
1.
Mark (Marek), born in USA, professional boxer, live in San Diego
Twins
born in Finland:
2.
James - # 2 in Decathlon, 1987 University student Games, now is a
geography expert
3. Merja
(Maria)
- professional volleyball player in Italy. Best in 1988. attended Cornell
University
4.
Nina - gymnast, got serious trauma...
FrantišekMacák - (výòatek z knihy „Sto let královny“) Olga recounted the romance in her book "The rings of destiny", (New York, D. McKay Co., 1968) Title: The Rings of Destiny The true story of two Olympic champions whose romance transcended the Iron Curtain and became an ....Size=5.5"x8" Hard Cover w/Dust Jacket 311 pgs DJ lightly rubbed on covers & is rubbed @ 1 fore-edge corners, o.w. clean, tight & bright. NO ink names, DJ tears etc. Illustrator: 7 B/W Photos Publisher: David McKay Co., Inc. Place of Publication: New York, NY Date of Publication: 1968 Edition: 1st Edition Condition: VG/Good In clear protective wrapper. Price is unclipped. Keywords: Olympic Champions, Love Stories, Iron Curtain Olga Fikotova Connolly: While competing in the women’s discus throw at the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia, Czech gold medalist Olga Fikotova (as she was known then) met U.S. Olympic hammer throw champion Hal Connolly. After the two married, she competed in the next four Olympics as an American and set four U.S. records. She also won five U.S. women’s discus titles and won the U.S. Olympic Trials on three occasions. Connolly carried the American flag in the opening ceremonies at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. (ed note - she was a long-time college administrator in California)   She was 38 and had given birth to her four children by the time of the
1972 Olympics. But Olga Connolly, famous for so many things Olympic, made
the U.S. team again in the discus.It would be her fifth Games, and her last moment on the international sports stage. But as in all things with Connolly, it would not be a quiet goodbye. "Things with me always get so complicated," she said last week. "I make them that way." In 1956, Olga Fikotova traveled from her home in Czechoslovakia to the Melbourne Olympics, won the gold medal and fell in love with American hammer thrower Harold Connolly. She moved to California, got married, had her children and kept on throwing the discus at an international level, despite never winning another Olympic medal. When she qualified for the U.S. team again in '72, she also had become one of the world's leading athletic spokespersons. In the early '70s, she spoke out against the war in Vietnam. She belonged to a group called Another Mother for Peace.The early '70s were not a time when stodgy Olympic officials easily accepted outspoken athletes. What really made them nervous was when the other U.S. Olympic sport captains elected Connolly to carry the American flag into the opening ceremony. "When the Olympic Committee heard I had been elected to carry the flag, they were silent for about five minutes," said Connolly, now 68, divorced since 1973 and a resident of Newport Beach. "Our marching orders had been pretty clear going into those Games. Bring lots of medals home and stay away from politics. "Of course I couldn't do that." U.S. Olympic officials, Connolly said, failed to tell her about an opening ceremony rehearsal, almost causing her to lose her chance to carry the flag. Then there was some discussion that the flag was too heavy for a woman to carry all the way around the stadium. That discussion further inspired Connolly to not only carry the flag, but do so one-handed. "When I finished and finally left the stadium, everybody kind of dispersed," she recalled, "and it was an empty feeling. I wanted to share this with somebody, and there was nobody around. "So ... I ran into the Associated Press building and told them I wanted to tell my story and they let me dictate what I had to say into a machine. And the story went out. "The next day, the headline in the New York Times said: 'THE FLAG BELONGS TO EVERYBODY.' " ctnow.com is Copyright © 2003 by The Hartford Courant Jedna z nejpohlednějších olympijských vítězek se narodila 13. listopadu 1932 v Praze. Vyrůstala a začínala se sportem v Tatranu Libuš. Byla velkým sportovním talentem. Pro atletiku objevil nadějnou košíkářku a volejbalistku tehdejší diskařský rekordman Zdeněk Čihák. Přivedl si krásnou přítelkyni na diskařský plácek Rudé Hvězdy do Stromovky, do míst vedle nové haly Olympu. To bylo v roce 1954. Cílem Olgy Fikotové však bylo také studium medicíny ["I will be a surgeon"]. Hned při prvním tréninku snadno přehodila hranici 33 m. O krásnou diskařku se začal zajímat i tehdejší šéftrenér atletiky Zbyněk Příhoda, jeden z našich nejschopnějších trenérů. Již o rok později vyhrála mistrovství ČSR a za další rok opět domácí mistrovství a dokonce OH v Melbourne. I když byly u nás tehdy výborné diskařky Mertová a Vobořilová, přehodila právě Fikotová jako naše první atletka hranici 50 m. Celkem se zapsala třikrát do našich rekordních listin, naposledy výkonem 53,69m, kterým vyhrála OH v Melbourne. ČSR reprezentovala v pěti utkáních, z toho čtyři vyhrála. To už byla studentkou lékařské fakulty Univerzity Karlovy. V Austrálii se do krásné diskařky zamiloval na první pohled Harold Connolly, vítěz soutěže kladivářů, později sedminásobný světový rekordman a devítinásobný mistr USA. Jako první přehodil hranici 70 m. Díky cílevědomosti obou atletů i manželů Zátopkových se konala za rok v Praze svatba. O milencích, mezi které spadla,,železná opona“, psal tehdy celý svět. A jak to viděl jeden z hlavních ,,dohazovačů“ Emil Zátopek? „Že to byla láska na první pohled, věděli všichni už v Austrálii. Však také naše vedení dělalo všechno proto, aby se Olina s Haroldem po ukončení soutěží už nepotkali. Ale Harold byl vytrvalej. Za pár měsíců přijel do Prahy.Olina ho nakvartýrovala k nám do bytu. Harold měl však vízum jen na pět dnů. Mně bylo jasné, že za tu dobu svatbu nestihnou. Dana mě však vyslala na ministerstvo zahraničí za ministrem Davidem. Místo něj mě přijal nějaký náměstek. Snažil jsem se mu všechno vysvětlit, ale byla to komedie za všechny prachy. Výsledkem bylo rozhodnutí soudruha náměstka: Neexistuje, aby se vzali! Harold tedy odletěl do Vídně,ale hned se nabídl Polákům, že přijede na tréninkový seminář. Vzal to přes Prahu a na letišti zjistila medička Fikotová, že pan Connolly má,,strašnou horečku“ a nemůže dál letět. Abych to zkrátil. Nakonec se oba za velkého jásotu delegátů a zděšení zainteresovaného předsednictva objevili na sjezdu ČSTV. Harold u nás spal a tak jsem v tom lítal. Šel jsem to vysvětlit prezidentu Zápotockému. Ten už věděl, o co jde a pochopil, že by Olina emigrovala při první příležitosti. A držet olympijskou vítězku jen doma také nešlo. Tak dal svolení. Byli jsme na svatbě s Danou jako svědkové.“ Po svatbě odletěli novomanželé do Bostonu. Harold byl učitelem angličtiny. Olga chtěla dál studovat medicínu, ale vzdala to po pár měsících. Pro cizinku to bylo strašně těžké. Házela však dál diskem. Osobní rekord má z roku 1972 (57,60). Startovala ještě na OH 1960 (7.), 1964 (12.) a 1968 (8.). V roce 1972 se už nekvalifikovala do týmu USA, ale byla jen symbolickou kapitánkou a odnesla vlajku USA. Olga chtěla ještě závodit za ČSR v Římě v roce 1960, ale naši funkcionáři neměli zájem . Více startů na OH má z diskařek jen Rumunka Manoliuová. Connollyovi měli čtyři děti. Nejstarší Marek se narodil v USA. Potom odjela rodina do Finska a tam se narodili James a Merja. Po návratu se Connollyovi usadili v Kalifornii. Jejich čtvrtým potomkem je Nina. Nejstarší Marek se snažil o dráhu profesionálního boxera, žil v San Diegu. James dosáhl největších atletických úspěchů. Byl druhý v desetiboji na Univerziádě v roce 1987 se ziskem 8123 body. Po zlomení lýtkové kosti a dalších problémech s ramenem se věnoval počítačové expertize v geografii. V roce 1995 se ještě dostal v USA na šesté místo mezi oštěpaři. Merja, což je finsky Marie, hrála profesionálně volejbal v Itálii a byla vyhlášena nejlepší hráčkou roku (1988). Později učila v USA na prestižní Cornellově univerzitě. Nejmladší Nina byla gymnastickým talentem. Prý se moc líbila i Věře Čáslavské. Po pádu z bradel se však gymnastiky zřekla a udělala z Olgy babičku. Olga se později s Haroldem rozvedla, žije nyní sama v Culver City a je sociální pracovnicí. I po šedesátce si ještě ráda zahrála volejbal, ale nejmilejším koníčkem byl pro ni malý vnuk. Do Čech se Olga již nikdy nevrátila,ani po roce 1989. Jako první z Connollyů navštívil zemi své matky James v roce 1994. FrantišekMacák - (výňatek z knihy „Sto let královny“ JIRKA,
Jan Igor Ter-Ovanesyan - Èãîðü Òåð-Îâàíåñÿí |
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