Marie Provazníková


Marie Provazníková was a Czechoslovak sports official active in the Sokol movement.

Background

Marie Provazníková was born in Prague.

Career

Provazníková was a coach of the Czechoslovak women’s gymnastics team at the 1948 London Olympics where her team won the gold medal.
On August 18, 1948, she decided to defect, because of "lack of freedom" in her homeland brought about by the February coup.
After a few months’ stay in London she moved to the United States and resided there for the rest of her life, teaching PE and organizing Sokol units in the United States and internationally.
She lived to see the 1989 Velvet revolution and greeted with enthusiasm the revival of the Czechoslovak Sokol movement after four decades of Communist suppression.

Personal and death

Provazníková died at the age of 100 years in Schenectady, New York.

Awards

In 1948, Provazníková won a gold medal in women's gymnastics.
In 1992 she was awarded the Order of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, in memoriam, class III.

Publications