René Novotný

René Novotný
nation	Czech Republic
birthday	June 10, 1963
place of birth	Čeladná
size	186 cm
Weight	83 kg
Career
discipline	Pair skating
Partner	Jana Havlová, Lenka Knapová, Radka Kovaříková
Trainer	Irina Rodnina, Ivan Rezek
status	resigned
End of career	1995
Medal table
World Cup medals 1 × 1 × 0 × EM medals 0 × 1 × 0 ×
World figure skating championships silver Oakland 1992 Couples gold Birmingham 1995 Couples  European figure skating championships silver Dortmund 1995 Couples
Placements in the figure skating Grand Prix
Podium placements 1. 2. 3.  Grand Prix competitions 0 8th 4th

René Novotný (born June 10, 1963 in Čeladná ) is a former Czech figure skater who started in pair skating .

He appeared internationally with three different figure skating partners. His first partner was Jana Havlová , in 1983 Novotný was ninth with her at the European Championships and 15th at the World Championships . From 1985 to 1988 his partner was Lenka Knapová . Their best result at a European championship was fourth place in 1987 and tenth place at a world championship , which they achieved in 1986 and 1987 .

From 1990 Novotný finally ran alongside Radka Kovaříková . With her he celebrated his greatest successes. In 1992 they won their first medal at their second joint World Cup. In Oakland they became vice world champions behind Natalja Mischkutjonok and Artur Dmitrijew . It was the first world championship medal for a Czech couple since Věra Suchánková and Zdeněk Doležal won silver in 1958 . At the 1992 Olympic Games in Albertville they failed to achieve a medal in fourth and at the 1994 Olympic Games in Lillehammer they finished sixth. After four fourth places in a row, the couple won their first and only European championship medal in Dortmund in 1995 , when they became vice European champions behind Mandy Wötzel and Ingo Steuer . However, Novotný and Kovaříková experienced their greatest success at the following World Cup. In Birmingham , the pair, trained by Irina Rodnina , became world champions. They are the only Czech pair skating world champions in history.

After winning the title, René Novotný and Radka Kovaříková ended their amateur careers, got married and switched to professionals. In 1995 and 1997 they became professional world champions, they also appeared on Stars on Ice and can still be seen in ice shows around the world.

Results

Pair skating

(1983 with Jana Havlová , 1985 to 1988 with Lenka Knapová , from 1990 with Radka Kovaříková )

Competition / year	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995
winter Olympics										4th		6th
World championships	15th			10.	10.	11.		8th.		2.	4th	5.	1.
European championships	9.		7th	6th	4th	6th		6th	4th	4th	4th	4th	2.
Czech championships												1.

Web links

• René Novotný in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )