Figure skater Karol Divín died today after a long illness. The silver medalist at the 1960 Squaw Valley Olympics was 86 years old. The Czech Olympic Committee (WWTP) informed about his death.
Divín was born in Budapest and at the age of ten he moved with his parents to Bratislava, where he started figure skating.
At the turn of the 50’s and 60’s of the last century, he competed three times at the Olympic Games. In addition to silver from Squaw Valley, he had fifth place in Cortina d’Ampezzo in 1956 and fourth place in his farewell to his career in Innsbruck in 1964.
He was a two-time European champion, where he won six more medals. He won two precious metals at the World Cup.
After the end of his active career, Divín trained in Finland and Canada, among other places, where he collaborated with world champion Brian Orser, for example. He returned to Brno in 2001 and was one of Michal Březina’s coaches.
“I will always have it in my head as I watched it at various championships on television. The crescent that rode stuck in my memory the most,” recalled Jiří Daler, Olympic cycling champion and member of the board of the Czech Olympic Club.
“We met at various events, announcing the best athletes and the like. He was always nice to meet him. But lately he has been bad at it,” he added.
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