They offered them five thousand crowns. For winning, for first place, for Olympic gold. At the same time, they reached the final. Leningrad’s group won, although after the victory over Colombia they only drew with Kuwait and Nigeria, they eliminated Cuba in the quarterfinals and Yugoslavia in the semifinals. Opponents are not much, because football under five circles was always a poor Cinderella due to various restrictions and stubborn adherence to pure amateurism. During the Moscow Olympics, boycotted in the 1980s by most Western countries due to the invasion of Afghan troops in Afghanistan in particular.
František Štambacher falls after the intervention of one of the German players in the final of the 1980 Olympic tournament in Moscow.
Jiří Kruliš, ČTK
But even so, Havránek’s charges fought their way to the finals of the football tournament, and they were offered the opportunity to at least repeat what their predecessors did sixteen years ago in Tokyo. Or even overcome them if they were to win over the representation of the German Democratic Republic.
He growled with joy. He defeated the Russian and shook hands with Brezhnev, but eventually sold the gold in distress
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“And they came from the leadership of the expedition before the final that we will get five thousand for the gold. We got together and went to see coach Havránek. We told him plainly that we would not play for such ridiculous money. Either they build a manchaft from the substitutes, or whether they go to play Himl and Knecht, when they wanted us so much to get to the finals, “revealed after years the Spartan football god Jan Berger that before the final match the team rebelled and threatened with a boycott.
Pain like thunder. Especially in Moscow. Especially at the already boycotted Olympics, which, however, the Soviet organizers published and presented to the whole world as the best. The best, friendliest, and sporty at the highest level.
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Ladislav Vízek fights in the Olympic finals with the German superiority.
Jiří Kruliš, ČTK
And footballers from socialist Czechoslovakia dare to threaten to boycott the final match. That is why the chairman of ČSTV and the Olympic Committee, Antonín Himl, also included a reversal. That is why even political knight Karel Knecht quickly understood that there was nothing wrong with talking about the morals of a socialist athlete and noble Olympic ideals.
“But only after the coach went to lead the expedition. Raven was a man of the people. He didn’t make football a science and always listened to us. And when we were right, or he sensed that he would draw ours even more to his side, he put on us. So I wasn’t exactly his blood type, because he preferred heartbreakers and hard diggers who stuck their legs and head into everything. To this were mainly boys from Bohemka, or those he led, Havran´ in clubs. But we got along great with him because he could listen and watch. Maybe even in the sand … During the early evening walk through Moscow, before the final match, we wrote a line-up in the sand, he measured it, nodded and said, ‘Well, you see, guys, that’s exactly what I wanted to build.’ they won the Olympics, “said the bohemian Ladislav Vízek, as was also the case in the Olympic team.
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The winning team of Czechoslovak footballers after the Olympic triumph in Moscow. In the picture, where Jan Berger was eliminated in the final and Ladislav Vízek was replaced, Rostislav Václavíček, Libor Radimec, Luděk Macela, Josef Mazura, František Kunzo, goalkeeper Stanislav Seman, Jindřich Svoboda, substitute goalkeeper Jaroslav Netolička and masseur Siegel. Sitting from the left Zdeněk Šreiner, Petr Němec, Oldřich Rott, František Štambacher, Verner Lička, Zdeněk Rygel and doctor Michalko.
Jiří Kruliš, ČTK
“But we only won the Olympics when Havránek got together and went to the buffoon to interpret our message for them. He was the same dude he pushed him. When, after returning from Moscow, we left Husák’s Prague Castle as Olympic winners, we had sixty thousand in an envelope. So we, who kicked off the whole qualification and played in all matches in Russia, “adds Berger, for what money the Olympic gold medal was awarded in the end.
“Back then, it was possible to buy a pretty nice cottage for that, but I tightened a quarter of the money in a single evening. We marched through Prague until we ended up in the Cascade. In the end, only the two of us with Havránek, because the others did not survive and gradually fell away. We had it like a slingshot and we ground everything. Even why I wasn’t the only one taken to accept the Olympic winners at the Kremlin. They were afraid it would be a mess.
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Internationals after years at Juliska – Jan Berger (left) and Ladislav Vízek, among them coach Petr rada.
Vlastimil Vacek, Right
“You were already drunk and I was afraid that you would make a mess there,” Havránek admitted that he had instructed Macel to clean me in my room, bought a bass of beers and ordered that I have to wait three hours before everyone returned. Before they returned, I was scrapped. Just like the night we were returning from the Castle. I paid for all the people who were in the pub, and when I got home, I had to tell my wife that we had only ripped forty-five thousand during the Olympics, “Berger did not keep secrets even with escapades during his wild life.
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Petr Němec cheers after winning the final of the Olympic tournament in Moscow.
Jiří Kruliš, ČTK
“He was actually responsible for Himl. During the gold medal celebrations, we all shouted, strengthened by alcohol: Tondo, put it in the cauldron. And he, sometimes commissioned and withdrawn, sent for more and more bottles of vodka and champagne to drink the pancake properly, “takes Bergra in the protection of Vízek, who became Andrej of the Soviet choir the best scorer of the tournament.
And, of course, also the Olympic winner, because the Czechoslovak Olympians entered the final match. Complete and in the line-up they wished for. Berger and Vízek were not missing in it either, even though neither of them finished the match.
He celebrated the golden goal in the pool. We cried on the podium, Vízek recalls
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“I left the plaza less than a quarter of an hour after the break. The German Steinbach caught me by nature, so I tricked him until his blood flowed. The Azerbaijani judge packed us both and coach Havránek thanked me for that. It was clear to him that the exclusion would harm the Germans more than us, “Berger adds one detail to the mosaic of the Moscow finale played on August 2, 1980 at VI Lenin Stadium by over a hundred thousand spectators.
“And I walked a quarter of an hour after Honza, because the German Baum was kicking and beating me so hard that I just couldn’t continue with the bruised ribs. The raven persuaded me to try again at first, but in the end he blessed himself for replacing me. Jindra Svoboda from Brno came and immediately scored the winning goal, “Vízek joins and does not deny that a tear fell on the podium on the podium in the end.
They were to stay at home, then celebrate historic success! Ignorants among officials despite
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“The dust we got for her was beautiful at the time. However, I bought a red Renault for them. Older, but very nice. But I really shed that tear. That year we brought bronze from the European Championship in Italy, but there was more Olympic gold. At least for me.”
Even for the author of the winning goal, Jindřich Svoboda, it represents the peak of his career. And it doesn’t change the fact that he didn’t come up with such money as his more famous teammates, even though he decided the final.
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Henry Svoboda’s golden goal in the 1980 Olympic finals in Moscow. The shooter on the left cheers.
Jiří Kruliš, ČTK
“Franta Štambacher has scored a great ball, I missed the stopper, but the goalkeeper kicked the ball. Fortunately, right in front of me, so I sent him behind him. It was gold, which still reminds me of a golden football. However, I did not get it in Moscow, but from my teammates when I was celebrating my fiftieth birthday. They sprayed the shoe with gold spray and embellished it with all sorts of inscriptions. For example, Moscow 80, for example Brezhnev. I don’t want to forget where and in what year we became the Olympic winners. “
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