Jiří Čtvrtečka

* 1942

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Reporting to the counter-intelligence was a common practice. We found it to be quite a norm

Jiří Čtvrtečka in a boat
Jiří Čtvrtečka in a boat
photo: archiv pamětníka

Jiří Čtvrtečka, a Czechoslovak sprint canoeist and a coach, was born on 2 December 1942 in Prague. His father, Jaroslav Čtvrtečka, was an important Czechoslovak theorist of skiing and one of the founders of Interski, the International Ski Instructors Association. His mother was a daughter of an owner of the agricultural machinery manufacturer Knotek Jičín, known as Knotex after it had been nationalised, a part of Agrostroj national enterprise. Since his early youth, Jiří Čtvrtečka had been raised to become a sportsman and soon he managed to succeed. As a canoeist, he managed to join the junior team and later the Dukla Praha team thanks to his results. He trained at ČKD Vysočany factory, where he also applied for the Communist party membership, but all the time he kept himself occupied by sport. He was with the Czechoslovak team at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico, finishing fourth in Men’s Canoe Single 1000m. In 1971, he started to serve as a counter-intelligence informant. The agency had been interested mainly in information regarding the Dukla team members on their journeys abroad and the particular members of the team who were labeled as potential defectors. In 1976, he ended his career as a professional athlete and had been working at the Dukla team as a coach. After 1989, he was one of the founders of the Czech Olympic Club.