Prague, Sept 2 (CTK) – The last respects to the Czech legendary gymnast Vera Caslavska, who died of cancer at the age of 74 on Tuesday, will be paid in the National Theatre in Prague on Monday, September 12, the daughter of the seven-time Olympic winner, Radka Caslavska, has told iDNES server.
The family of Vera Caslavska rejected the proposals that a state funeral be arranged.
The ceremony in the National Theatre, which will start at 10:00 CEST, will be also attended by ministers of Bohuslav Sobotka’s (Social Democrats, CSSD) government.
“It will be a celebration of Vera Caslavska,” Jiri Kejval, chairman of the Czech Olympic Committee, which will organise the farewell event, said.
The public will be able to pay tribute to Caslavska in the vicinity of the National Theatre after the official programme ends, the Government Office said.
The National Theatre was also the venue of a ceremony for another Czech sports legend, long-distance runner Emil Zatopek, in 2000. It was attended by athletes, fans and Czech and foreign politicians.
The Czech-Japanese Society, of which Caslavska was an honorary chairwoman, has started an electronic book of condolences at http:/vera-caslavska.japan.cz.
Caslavska, who won three gold medals at the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 1964, was very popular in the country.
Since Wednesday, people have had an opportunity to remember Caslavska in the Prague shopping centre Quadrio, where a fan zone was open during the recent Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
A book of condolences can be signed at the local authority in Cernosice, to the west of Prague, where Caslavska lived.
Caslavska won a total of seven gold medals at the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 1964 (three) and in Mexico in 1968 (four). She won four world champion and 11 European champion titles, and was Czechoslovakia’s Athlete of the Year four times.
Caslavska was expelled from the Czechoslovak Physical Training Association because of her opposition to the Soviet-led occupation of the country in August 1968 and the signing of the Two Thousand Words document from the period of the Prague Spring Communist-led reform movement, which the occupation crushed.
Due to this, she fell into disgrace of the authorities. She had to make her living as a cleaner for some years and only later could start training young talented gymnasts.
