With the death of Ludvik Danek, athletics has lost one of the great figures who marked the history of discus throwing in the Sixties, though he obtained his greatest successes at the start of the Seventies with Olympic gold in Munich in 1972 and the European title in Helsinki in 1971.
He was 35 years old (he was born on 6 January 1937) when he mounted the highest step of the Olympic podium on 2 September 1972.
Danek was part of a great generation of discus throwers: the eternal Al Oerter, perhaps the greatest exponent of the discipline ever., the powerful Jay Silvester, the bizarre and monumental Ricky Bruch, the formidable East Germans Lothar Milde and Hartmut Losch and the massive John Powell.
The "blacksmith of Horice", as he was known, had a long and successful career: his gold in Munich followed a silver medal in Tokyo 1964 and a bronze at the ’68 Olympics in Mexico City. In 1974, he narrowly missed a second European title when he won silver behind Finland’s Pentti Kahma, in Rome.
Danek will also be remembered as the first discus thrower to officially pass the 65 metre mark: he set his second world record in Sokolov on 12 October 1965 with a mark of 65.22m (with his fifth throw), demolishing his own previous mark of 64.55m, set in Turnov on 2 August 1964. He also threw over 66 metres in Long Beach on 7 June 1966, but the record was never ratified, due to a lack of judges (there was only one judge present and the athletes had to measure the throws themselves).
During his career, Danek represented Czechoslovakia a total of 49 times in international competition. In 1972 he was awarded the "Order of Labour", one of the highest honours of the communist state which governed Czechoslovakia at the time.
When he finished competing, Danek turned to coaching and sports administration, becoming vice president of the Athletic Federation of the Czech Republic and a member of the Czech Olympic Committee.
Learning of the death of Ludvik Danek, IAAF President, Dr Primo Nebiolo sent the following letter to the President of the Czech Federation: "The news of the untimely demise of Ludvik Danek has saddened me greatly. He honoured his country and athletics for nearly thirty years, setting world records and winning Olympic medals in the purest spirit of honest and fair competition. Above all, I wish to retain the memory of a good man who was an invaluable member of the world athletics family.
Please be so kind as to convey my affectionate and sincere condolences to Ludvik Danek’s son and all of the members of the Czech Republic’s athletics fraternity."
Obituary by Ottavio Castellini
