The best
Czech female skiing star of all time. During her
career she won a total of six Olympic medals. She is a favourite of
sports fans because of her naturalness and her comeback to world-top form after
the birth of her daughter.
First proof of her abilities came at the Junior World
Championships in 1993. At the Harrachov event she took gold and bronze. She has
won the Czech Republic Championships several times.
In 1997, she came in third place in the World Championships in Trondheim
in the 15-kilometer cross-country. She won the World
Championships twice. She came in first in both Obersdorf and Sapporo in the 10km freestyle.
In the year 1998, she
finished in second place in the 5-kilometer cross-country ski race in the
Olympic Games in Nagano and third place in the
10-kilometer race. In the Salt Lake City Olympic Games (2002) she brought home
one bronze medal (for 15-kilometer free skiing), but after Larissa Lazutinov
from Russia left the competition, she additionally won the silver for the
15-kilometer and bronze for combination. At
the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin
she added another two medals to her collection when she won a silver medal in
the 7.5 km + 7.5 km double pursuit and a gold in the 30km freestyle.
Kateřina Neumannová also competed in the Summer
Olympics. In Atlanta
in 1996 she finished in 18th place in the mountain bike event.
She became the first woman in twenty-two years to
achieve the Czech
Republic’s highest honor
in sport when, in 2006, she was named Sportsperson of the Year. She ended her
professional career in March 2007.