KREMNICA. Rudolf Čillík died at the age of ninety.
In 1960, he started at the Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley. At the US Games, he was the only cross-country skier to represent Czechoslovakia.
“The legend of cross-country skiing, which celebrated its 90th birthday less than two months ago, has left us,” informs the website kremnica.sk
The most successful in Czechoslovakia
He finished 30th on the 30-kilometer track at Squaw Valley Games and finished 36th in 15 miles. He also presented himself at the World Championships in Zakopane in 1962 and in Oslo in 1966 (he achieved the best result in the second participation – 23rd place in 50 km).
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Rudolf Čillík played for eight years in the national team of the former Czechoslovakia and the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, he was also the captain of the national team. In the sixties of the last century, he was the most successful Czechoslovak runner.
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“He came from a dozen children, he had been skiing since childhood. He was very versatile, he also played ice hockey, football, volleyball and athletics, “the portal wrote about him olympic.sk
In the years 1957 – 1967 he won nine individual titles of the champion of Czechoslovakia, he added two titles as a member of the relay of the Central Slovakian region.
He made it late
As a result, he made it to the running track relatively late.
“He was 25 years old, when at the Slovak Championships in 1956 in Ružomberok, as a representative of the Central Slovakian region, he finished third in the thirty-kilometer race. There, he attracted the coach Ján Terezčák, who offered him cooperation, “he adds.
Just a week later, at the international races in Tatranská Lomnica, Čillík defeated three Czechoslovak representatives who had competed at the Winter Olympics in Cortina d’Ampezzo shortly before.
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Departure of the Czechoslovak expedition to the Olympic Games in Squaw Valley. Rudolf Čillík is third from above. (Author: SOŠM archive)
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“I was immediately transferred to the Prague Hotel. I was assigned to a room with Ľud Hrnčiar, at that time he was the only Slovak in the Czechoslovak national team. The night before the race, he waxed his skis with foreign waxes.
He offered them to me and with his help I anointed them like he did. The next day there was a race and even though we had the same grease, Ľudo finished around thirty and I won them, “said Rudolf Čillík three years ago for Life magazine.
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Lead insoles
In those days, Čillík complained about training in various ways. He put lead insoles in his shoes to make them heavier.
“I was a warrior. I never competed with a loss. Never. Most of the competitors managed to fight for the first fifteen kilometers, but gradually they started to break. I was able to use it because I was very motivated.
I said to myself that I want to get Slovakia into the consciousness and history of cross-country skiing. In critical moments, I realized that I was not running for myself, but for my family, my wife and Slovakia, “he recalled.
Before the last kilometers of the race, he had a traditional ritual, drinking strong black coffee. “It was a psychic boost for me,” he smiled.
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Olympic winner in the 20 km walk from Seoul 1988 Jozef Pribilinec together with Rudolf Čillík (right). (Author: Ivan Čillík)
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He worked at Ore mines
Čillík was awarded the title of Merited Master of Sports. He worked in Rudné bany, where he worked until his early retirement in 1990.
The legend of cross-country skiing, after which the stadium at Skalka near Kremnica is named, stood at the birth of the mass endurance races Biela stopa SNP, he was their director for several years.
He participated in the organization of the Bezrouk Memorial, FIS international races as vice-chairman of the organizing committee.
He also worked in the Olympic movement as vice-chairman of the Banská Bystrica Olympic Club and a member of the Ethics Committee of the Slovak Olympic Committee.
“I am sorry I could not prove my full qualities. That my athletic level, performance and endurance were not used enough. It’s a pity that the potential I carried was not better used, “he said some time ago.
The last farewell to Rudolf Čillík will take place in the presence of the immediate family on Wednesday, January 12, in Kremnica.
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