|
PRAGUE, July 12 (Xinhua) -- The nomination of 105 Czech athletes was approved by the Czech Olympic Committee (COV) on Tuesday to represent the country to attend the forthcoming Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
This will be the smallest team of the Czech Republic since its establishment in 1993. The team includes all the four gold medalists from London: javelin thrower Barbora Spotakova, single scull winner Miroslava Topinkova Knapkova, pentathlon winner David Svoboda and cross country biker Jaroslav Kulhavy.
COV chairman Jiri Kejval said that as sport has been underfinanced in the Czech Republic for a long time, this has cut across all sports and it has affected the physical prowess of the youngest generation in Czech. He said in his view, all the nominees are heroes who have fulfilled the difficult criteria despite the system.
COV sports director Martin Doktor, head of the Czech mission for Rio, said they have no representative in any team event this time, which has naturally influenced the total number.
The COV will send the final nomination to Rio on July 18. The team may be bigger if some more athletes fulfil the nomination criteria or receive an extra invitation from an international federation.
Czech send 142 members to attend the 2004 Olympic in Athens where it had the biggest team. Enditem
