Jiří Skobla
Jiří Skobla (born April 16, 1930 in Prague ; † November 18, 1978 ) was a Czechoslovak shot putter .
His winning streak began at the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki , where he was ninth with 15.92 m. On October 11 of the same year, he was the first European to cross the 17-meter mark in Prague with 17.12 m. By 1957 he improved the European record in the shot put another five times. On August 24, 1957, he reached 18.01 m in Prague, making it the first European 18-meter jumper.
At the European Championships in 1954 in Bern , Skobla lived up to his role as favorite and won with 17.20 m ahead of Oto Grigalka and Heino Heinaste , both of whom competed for the Soviet Union. Also at the Olympic Games in Melbourne in 1956 , Skobla was the best European. With 17.65 m he won bronze behind the Americans Parry O'Brien with 18.57 m and Bill Nieder with 18.18 m.
In 1958 at the European Championships in Stockholm , four shot putters exceeded the 17-meter mark. The Brit Arthur Rowe won with 17.78 m ahead of Wiktor Lipsnis from the Soviet Union with 17.47 m. Skobla won bronze with 17.12 m, ahead of the German Hermann Lingnau with 17.07 m and the Italian Silvano Meconi with 16.98 m. Silvano Meconi replaced Skobla as the European record holder in 1959.
At the Olympic Games in Rome in 1960 , Skobla was ninth with 17.39 m. At the European Championships in Belgrade in 1962 , Skobla finished sixth with 17.87 m. On October 13, 1963 he set up his personal best with 18.52 m in Bucharest .
His last major success was at the European Indoor Games in Dortmund in 1966 , where he won the bronze medal with 18.08 m behind the Hungarian Vilmos Varjú (19.05 m) and Dieter Hoffmann from the GDR (18.25 m).
Jiří Skobla was 1.86 m tall and weighed 120 kg during his playing days. His father was the weightlifter and Olympic champion Jaroslav Skobla .
literature
- Ekkehard zur Megede: The Modern Olympic Century, 1896–1996: Track and Field Athletics. German Society for Athletics Documentation, Berlin 1999.
Web links
- Jiří Skobla in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
personal data | |
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SURNAME | Skobla, Jiří |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Czechoslovak shot putter |
DATE OF BIRTH | April 16, 1930 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Prague |
DATE OF DEATH | November 18, 1978 |