"A total hero" - Martina Navratilova hails Czech gymnastic legend Vera Caslavska who won gold medal at 1968 Olympics against all odds

Martina Navratilova recalled former Czech gymnast Vera Caslavska, who bagged the gold medal at the 1968 Summer Olympics after being thrown out of her country just ahead of the competition.

Caslavska was born in 1942 in Prague in the erstwhile Czechoslovakia and died in 2016. In her career as a professional gymnast, she won 22 international titles, including 11 European championships, four world titles, and seven Olympic gold medals.

Caslavska was also a fervent and outspoken supporter of the democratic movement in her home country and opposed the 1968 invasion of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) into Czechoslovakia.

That opposition to the Soviet invasion forced Caslavska to flee to the countryside for her own protection. This meant she lost her training facilities, which shattered her hopes of competing at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City.

However, Caslavska did not give up and continued training in the forests. She used logs as balancing beams and tree branches to practice swinging. She was granted a last-minute entry into the Olympics and won the gold medal in the women's individual all-around category against all odds.

Vera Caslavska also took home four gold medals at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and four gold medals at the 1969 Mexico City Olympics. Her accolades came in the all-around, vault, balance beam, uneven bars, and floor exercise categories. She also won four Olympic silver medals.

Martina Navratilova recently remembered Caslavska's contribution to her country and the sporting world. The tennis legend hailed Caslavska as a "hero."

"A total hero:)," she wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

---

Martina Navratilova dubs decision to leave Czechoslovakia her "only regret"

Martina Navratilova

Like Vera Caslavska, Martina Navratilova became a legend in the sport of tennis and made her home country proud.

Navratilova, born in 1956 in Prague, Czechoslovakia, has won the most Grand Slam titles of any player, men or women, in the Open Era with a combined 59 Major titles. She has 18 Major singles titles, 31 women's doubles titles, and 10 mixed doubles titles.

However, all of Martina Navratilova's highest accolades in tennis came after she was forced to flee Czechoslovakia due to the country's totalitarian government. The 67-year-old had to take a break from her tennis career and seek asylum in the US in 1975.

Navratilova recently called her decision to leave Czechoslovakia the "only regret" of her life during an interview with iSport. She said while playing tennis had her beautiful life, being forced to leave her home nation deeply affected her personal life.

"I am often asked if I have any regrets. My only regret is that I had to take that step. Tennis made my life beautiful, but having to run away, it also ruined something," she said.

"One does not realize how it will turn out with other people around. My sister suffered a lot, I won't even talk about my parents," she added.