lit a candle 2h agoThe Elephants, they called him and his brother. Says it all really.
Their story
Oldřich Svojanovský was a Czech rower who, with his elder brother Pavel, won Olympic silver in the coxed pair for Czechoslovakia at the 1972 Munich Games and bronze at Montreal in 1976. He later led the Czech Olympians' Club for twenty years. He died on 11 November 2026 at the…
Oldřich Svojanovský was a Czech rower who, with his elder brother Pavel, won Olympic silver in the coxed pair for Czechoslovakia at the 1972 Munich Games and bronze at Montreal in 1976. He later led the Czech Olympians' Club for twenty years. He died on 11 November 2026 at the age of 80, the Czech Olympic Committee announced.
Born on 9 March 1946 in Otrokovice, Svojanovský first competed as a cross country skier and reached the junior national team before choosing rowing. He and Pavel, three years his senior, worked their way to the top of the sport together and became one of the most recognisable crews of their era. Known as the Elephants, they rowed with power, a high stroke rate, exceptional willpower and a fierce fighting spirit.
Their first major success came at the 1969 European Championships in Klagenfurt, where, steered by coxswain Vladimír Petříček, they became European champions ahead of the reigning Olympic winners from Italy, Primo Baran and Angelo Rossetti. They had already finished fifth in the eights at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. In 1971 they took silver at the European Championships in Copenhagen behind the East German pair of Wolfgang Gunkel and Jörg Lucke, and the same East German crew beat them again in a dramatic Olympic final in Munich in 1972, leaving the brothers with silver. With coxswain Ludvík Vébr they won bronze at the 1974 World Championships in Lucerne and again at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal. Their racing partnership ended in 1978.
After retiring, Svojanovský stayed close to the Olympic movement. In 2004 he became chairman of the Czech Olympians' Club, which he led until December 2024, and he then continued as its vice chairman. He worked to make sure former Olympians were not forgotten or left alone after their careers, promoting the club's social programme, mutual support and regular reunions. He was also a member of the Czech Olympic Committee.
Svojanovský outlived his brother Pavel, who died on 31 March 2024, by two and a half years. Jiří Kejval, president of the Czech Olympic Committee and himself a former rower, said he had been above all a man with a big heart who kept the Olympic family together all his life. Club chairman Pavel Benc said Czech sport had lost a great friend whose heart was in the right place.
Biography adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), Czech Olympic Committee, Czech News Agency and iSport.cz. Wikipedia ↗
Photos
1Oldřich Svojanovský at a Czech Olympic Team event
by People Forever
From social media
2Posts by Oldřich, and posts about them, kept here so they are not lost.