Vlasta Děkanová

1936 Berlin Summer Olympics

Heading into the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin as reigning World All-Around Champion (and eventual successful defender of her world all-around title at the next World Championships in 1938), Děkanová was a favorite to do extremely well and contribute heavily towards her team's overall score and placement in the team standings. However, her excellent and consistent placement at the standing world championships and other competitions met with a considerable reversal of fortune at these games. Although there was no individual all-around competition for the women, individual standings were, nevertheless, tabulated in the official Olympic report. While placing near the top in the competitive field of 64 total individual contestants on both the uneven bars (8th place) and vault (5th place) apparatuses with scores that were consistently relatively very good on both the compulsory and voluntary exercises, the only one of her six apparatus performances (including both compulsory and voluntary exercises on each apparatus) in the entire competition that was in the top 3 and reflective of her international champion status was her compulsory exercise on vault which was given the 3rd-highest mark for that exercise in the competition. Particularly on balance beam, her reversal of fortune was most revealing as she placed 22nd

Additionally, the reversals of fortune of many of the top gymnasts in the world at these games were not limited to the reversals of fortune of Děkanová and her fellow 1934 World Championships all-around women's medalists Kalocsai and Skirlińska. Their reversals of fortune were mirrored on the men's side in the individual all-around competition, as well, again quite extremely in numerous instances, by several individuals who either already were or would become World or Olympic all-around champions or medalists that decade:

Děkanová was competitor #11 in the gymnastics competition at the 1936 Berlin Summer Olympic Games, as is illustrated by this cropped photograph, from the Official Olympic Report, of her performing her compulsory exercise on the uneven bars.

1924 Olympic All-Around Champion 13th at the 1926 Worlds, Bronze (3rd) All-Around Medalist at the 1928 Olympics, and 10th at the 1931 Worlds ) finished 32nd. 8th at the 1931 Worlds, Floor Exercise Silver-Medalist at the 1932 Los Angeles Summer Olympics, finished 14th. 9th at the 1931 Worlds, finished 31st. 3rd at the 1931 Worlds, ) finished 27th. ) finished 40th,

After World War II, she remained active in the sport and trained young gymnasts. She was also involved in developing and maintaining city infrastructure as a planner and dispatcher of road and water management buildings.

Legacy

Although the Official Olympic Report for the 1952 Helsinki Olympics does not specifically state that this was the first time that medals were awarded to women on the sole basis of individual performances, it does state "Individual competitions in women's gymnastics were included in the Olympic Programme for the first time." World Gymnastics, the official governing body for the sport, stated about those games "1952 marked the first year an individual women's competition was held in addition to a team competition". What is currently listed here on Wikipedia as well as what is written about the 1952 Olympics in an article on one gymnastics blog ("It was the first time women would be granted individual medals") strongly suggest that no individual Olympic medals were awarded to individual woman gymnasts on the sole basis of individual performances prior to 1952. From among the 3 installments of the World Championships that had official competitions for women that existed before 1952, Děkanová was the All-Around Champion at 2 of 3 of them (tallying numerous first-place apparatus finishes at her 2nd Worlds appearance), and at both of the 2 World Championships from among those 3 that existed prior to World War II, Děkanová was the All-Around Champion of both. One gymnastics blog states "Vlasta Děkanová was the undisputed top WAG [Woman Artistic Gymnast] prior to World War II." In summary, at the combined World and Olympic level, currently-prevailing data points to Děkanová as being the most decorated individual woman gymnast for the era prior to World War II.

Additionally, as Děkanová led her team to its first two World Championship victories and coached her team to Olympic victory in 1948, she can be credited as having played a very crucial role in establishing the legacy of her country on the women's side in the sport of artistic gymnastics. At the 15 World Championship and Olympic competitions held, from 1934 to 1970, they won team medals at 7 of the 8 editions of the World Championships during that era and 6 of the 7 editions of the Olympic Games during that era. (In fact, the Czechoslovak women's team's participation at the Olympic level stretches all the way back to the first-ever Olympiad at which women's gymnastics was included as a competitive event - the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics - although they did not participate in an officially competitive role.) One of their only two non-medal-wins, at the 1950 World Championships, was due to apparently having been one of the "...regrettable mishaps, absentees, and so on..." at those games. Therefore, Děkanová was a crucial pioneer who initiated the legacy of her country having won women's team medals at 13 out of their 14 showings at those 15 various championships throughout the 1934-1970 time period.