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Episode details

World Service,20 Oct 2018,9 mins

The Czech Gymnast Who Defied The Soviet Union

Sporting Witness

Available for over a year

At the Mexico City Olympics in 1968, the great Czechoslovak gymnast Vera Caslavska staged a protest that made almost as many headlines at the time as the now much better-known "Black Power Salute". To make a stand against Moscow's crushing of the Prague Spring, Caslavska turned her head away on the podium as the Soviet anthem was played. The gymnast paid a heavy price - spending the rest of her life in menial jobs and suffering from depression. Tom Reynolds talks to Caslavska's friend, British competitor Mary Prestidge. PHOTO: Vera Caslavska with her Olympic medals (Getty Images)

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