Czech high jumper and decathlete
Roman ?ebrle
(
Czech pronunciation:
[?roman
???br?l?]
; born 26 November 1974) is a retired decathlete from the
Czech Republic
. He is considered to be one of the best
decathlon
athletes of all time. Originally a
high jumper
, he later switched to the combined events and is a former world record holder in the decathlon. In 2001 in
Gotzis
he became the first decathlete ever to achieve over 9,000 points, setting the record at 9,026 points, succeeding his compatriot,
Toma? Dvo?ak
, who had scored 8,994 points two years earlier.
After placing second in the decathlon during the
2000 Summer Olympics
, ?ebrle won the gold medal in the
2004 Summer Olympics
. Tradition dictates the winner of the decathlon holds the title of "World's Greatest Athlete".
[2]
A panel of experts convened by the
Wall Street Journal
in 2008 also ranked ?ebrle as the world's greatest athlete.
[3]
That very same year, ?ebrle finished 6th in the decathlon in the
Beijing Olympics
.
Private life
[
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]
?ebrle was born in
Lan?kroun
,
Czechoslovakia
. He studied at
Gymnazium
Franti?ka Martina Pelcla
(English:
Franti?ek Martin Pelcl
Gymnasium
) in
Rychnov nad Kn??nou
and at Gymnazium
Pardubice
. Then he studied an extension course of
Information Science
and
Computer Technology
.
[4]
On 14 October 2000 ?ebrle married
Eva Kasalova
,
[5]
a former Czech athlete who competed on the track in the
400
and
800 metres
. Their son, ?t?pan, was born on 4 September 2002 and their daughter Kate?ina on 30 January 2006.
[6]
Sporting career
[
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]
Beginning
[
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]
When Roman ?ebrle was six years old, he started playing
football
, but also occasionally took part in athletics competitions. In 1987 he broke his
calf bone
and
shin bone
on one leg in a collision with the opponent goalkeeper during a football match. After this incident he had his leg in plaster for 2 months and spent one year learning to walk.
[4]
He competed in his first decathlon competition in 1991 in
Tyni?t? nad Orlici
, reaching 5,187 points. Then he met coach Ji?i ?echak who convinced him to change school from
Rychnov nad Kn??nou
to Pardubice, where he joined the Track and Field Club in 1992. He improved his decathlon personal best to 7642 points, although he did just light training.
[4]
TJ Dukla Praha
[
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]
In 1995 he started his two-year compulsory
military service
in the
Czech Armed Forces
. He joined the army sports club
Dukla Prague
and its group of decathletes led by coach
Zden?k Va?a
, and has stayed a member since that time.
[4]
Thus he is still automatically a soldier of the
Czech army
, although in fact he does not take part in any military operations or, with a few exceptions,
[7]
in any military training.
[8]
Achievements
[
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]
In 1996 ?ebrle achieved a score of over 8,000 points for the first time, reaching 8,210 points at a meeting in
Prague
. His first big success came in 1997, when he won the
World University Games
in
Sicily
and came ninth at the
World Championships in Athens
. In 1999 he was successful at the
World Indoor Championships in Maebashi
, where he won bronze in the
heptathlon
, and one year later at the
European Indoor Athletics Championships in Ghent
, where he took silver.
By the end of the
discus
discipline at the
2000 Olympic Games
in
Sydney
, after
Estonian
Erki Nool
was red-flagged three times by the discus judge, it seemed that Roman ?ebrle was on course for the gold medal. However, the competition referee overruled the decision and ?ebrle finally took silver.
[9]
In March 2001 he won the first major tournament ? the
World Indoor Championships in Lisbon
? and in May he shocked the world with a new
world record
of 9,026 points, marking the first time a decathlete has ever broken the illustrious 9,000 point barrier. However, due to an injury he couldn't do himself justice and finished a disappointed 10th in the
World Championships in Edmonton
.
?ebrle then left the Va?a's group and started to train with coach
Dalibor Kupka
in the same club. In 2002 he won both
European Indoor Championships in Vienna
and
European Championships in Munich
. In 2004 in
Athens
he finally won the
Olympic Games
, reaching 8,893 points and thus beating the 20-year-old Olympic record set by the British decathlete
Daley Thompson
in the
1984 Olympics
in
Los Angeles
.
[10]
After the victory in Athens, the Czech minister of defence promoted him to the rank of
major
.
[11]
?ebrle's best
World Championships
results were gold in 2007 (
Osaka
) and silver in 2003 (
Paris
) and 2005 (
Helsinki
). He was also successful at the
World Indoor Championships
in heptathlon, taking gold in 2001 (Lisbon) and 2004 (
Budapest
, beating the European record with 6,438 points), and bronze in 1999 (Maebashi), 2003 (
Birmingham
) and 2006 (
Moscow
). In 2005 he won the European Indoor Championships in heptathlon (
Madrid
), in 2006 the European Championships in decathlon for the second time (
Gothenburg
) and in 2007 he got his third European indoor gold (
Birmingham
).
[9]
The sum of his personal bests in individual disciplines is 9,326 points (the third ever best after
Dan O'Brien
and
Mike Smith
).
[12]
He is the only decathlete who finished 40 decathlon competitions with the score over 8,000 points and 20 competitions with the score over 8,500 points (as of October 2007
[update]
).
[13]
?ebrle was also voted the Best Czech Athlete of the Year five times in a row (2002?2006),
[14]
and in 2004 he received the title of the Czech Sportsman of the Year.
[15]
In 2002 he received the
Guth-Jarkovsky Trophy
for his world record, which is awarded by the
Czech Olympic Committee
for the best performance by a Czech athlete achieved during the previous year.
[16]
Javelin injury
[
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]
On 22 January 2007, ?ebrle was hurt by a javelin thrown by a
South African
female javelin thrower,
Sunette Viljoen
, from a distance of 55 metres while training in
South Africa
.
[17]
The javelin pierced the edge of his right shoulder from the front, 12 cm deep. Shocked, ?ebrle ripped the javelin out immediately, which could have caused even more damage. It did not cause any serious injury however, because it slipped between a muscle and his skin. He was taken to a hospital, but left soon with just eleven stitches. However, he was limited in training for some time, especially in the
pole vault
. Later he stated that he was only 20 cm away from being killed and 1 cm from an injury that would have ended his career.
[18]
[19]
Personal bests
[
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]
List of results
[
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]
References
[
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]
External links
[
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]
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All-around
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Pentathlon
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Decathlon
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†1959 was contested as a pentathlon
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International
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National
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People
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