Racingโ Legend Dies in Obscurity: The tragic Fateโฃ of Lรกta Brandisovรก, Pardubice‘s โSole Female Champion
BOJOV, โขCZECHโ REPUBLIC – Lรกta Brandisovรก, โฃthe โคfirst and onlyโฃ woman to win the prestigious velkรก Pardubice steeplechase, died in 1979 inโข Austria, largely forgottenโข and living inโค poverty, decades after โคachieving sportingโ glory. Her story, a stark contrast between triumphant athleticism and a laterโข lifeโค ofโ hardship, is a โฃpoignant reminder of โhow quickly fame can fade and the challenges faced by โpioneering women in sport.
Brandisovรก’s victory in the 1937 Velkรก Pardubice was a โwatershed moment, establishing her as a โคnational hero in pre-war czechoslovakia.She repeated her win in โฃ1939, but her career and life wereโ irrevocably altered by the political upheaval and subsequent hardships of the 20thโ century.โค Followingโ a severe fall inโค 1946, wichโ resulted in a spinal injury and a coma, Brandisovรก endured lasting โคphysical and cognitive impairments. Though she relearned to walk with assistance, her riding career was over, and her passion for the sport diminished as racing was deemed “bourgeois entertainment” underโข the Communist regime.
In 1953, Brandisovรก was forced to leave herโข family’s โฃcastle inโข ลitka followingโ nationalization. She and her sisters were relocated to a remote cottageโ nearโค Bojov, living inโ impoverished conditions โฃwithout basic amenities like electricity or โrunningโ water. โbrandisovรก received aโ disability pension and managed the household, while her sistersโค worked at the โคOrion โChocolate Center in Prague. She never returned to ลitka.
The death of her โขtwin sister Kristรฝna in 1979 left Brandisovรก isolated. She briefly found solace visiting her nephew at his horse โchateau in Austria, but succumbed โto pneumonia there, never returning to the cottage โฃshe called home. As she herself wrote,โ she had “snapped the book of the past and neverโฃ opened it again.”
Today, Brandisovรก’s โlegacy is being revived. An exhibition at the ลitka chateau commemorates her life, and since 2015, the Velkรก pardubice race hasโค presented the Lรกta brandisovรก Award, ensuring โher pioneering spirit is remembered โby future generations of riders.
