photo: olympijskytym.cz
PARIS - Listen to the first impressions of our bronze medal fencing team! The fencing team of Jiří Beran, Jakub Jurka, Martin Rubeš and Michal Čupr won their first medal at the Olympic Games in Paris. After 116 years since the 1908 London Olympics, they won their second ever bronze medal in team fencing.
He won the first qualifying tournament in Cali, Colombia and came close to his dream. More participation under five rings. He already competed in Rio 2016, where he finished 33rd. And thanks to the great result from South America, he is one of the hot candidates to become one of the best curlers in the world. But the road to the finish line wasn't exactly easy.
Before the decisive tournament, he held the second position in the ranking. At the last event only three players could threaten him. One of them, the Belgian Loyola, narrowly defeated Jirka 10:9 in overtime and breathed a big sigh of relief. He made it all the way to the final. At that moment, both fighters had a thousandth of the same points. But with the tie, the tiebreaker was best finish of the season.
Jiri Beran won in Cali. Loyola had to do the same, but lost his final and finished second. And so the Czech joy could begin.
In Rio, he behaved like a true knight during one of the matches. He corrected the referee's decision himself and let his opponent score a point. For this gesture he won the main prize of the Czech Fair Play Club. Although for Jirka it was quite natural. "For me it was a normal thing. This is how it should be not only in sport, but also in life, although in sport it is probably more normal", Beran said afterwards.
And fate gave it all back to him. It was in that close finish of the Olympic qualification that finally went in his favour. In Paris, he's the oldest athlete on our team. In addition, he and his national teammates will also take part in the team competition. The Czech Republic has won the team competition for the first time in 32 years. Paris will thus be literally packed for Czech fencing. And maybe even medal-winning in the end.
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