Michal Martikán

Michal Martikán

Martikán in 2005
Personal information
Nationality	Slovak
Born	(1979-05-18) 18 May 1979 Liptovský Mikuláš, Czechoslovakia
Height	1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Weight	74 kg (163 lb)
Sport
Country	Slovakia
Sport	Canoe slalom
Event(s)	C1
Club	KTK Liptovský Mikuláš
Medal record Men's canoe slalom Event 1st 2nd 3rd Olympic Games 2 2 1 World Championships 14 3 5 European Championships 14 6 2 Junior World Championships 1 2 0 Junior European Championships 3 0 0 Total 34 13 8 Representing  Slovakia Olympic Games 1996 Atlanta C1 2008 Beijing C1 2000 Sydney C1 2004 Athens C1 2012 London C1 World Championships 1997 Três Coroas C1 1997 Três Coroas C1 team 2002 Bourg St.-Maurice C1 2003 Augsburg C1 2003 Augsburg C1 team 2007 Foz do Iguaçu C1 2009 La Seu d'Urgell C1 team 2010 Tacen C1 team 2011 Bratislava C1 team 2013 Prague C1 team 2014 Deep Creek Lake C1 team 2015 London C1 team 2017 Pau C1 team 2018 Rio de Janeiro C1 team 2006 Prague C1 2009 La Seu d'Urgell C1 2010 Tacen C1 1995 Nottingham C1 1995 Nottingham C1 team 1999 La Seu d'Urgell C1 2005 Penrith C1 2017 Pau C1 European Championships 1998 Roudnice nad Labem C1 team 2000 Mezzana C1 team 2002 Bratislava C1 team 2005 Tacen C1 team 2007 Liptovský Mikuláš C1 2007 Liptovský Mikuláš C1 team 2008 Kraków C1 2008 Kraków C1 team 2009 Nottingham C1 2010 Bratislava C1 2010 Bratislava C1 team 2012 Augsburg C1 team 2015 Markkleeberg C1 team 2016 Liptovský Mikuláš C1 team 1998 Roudnice nad Labem C1 2006 L'Argentière-la-Bessée C1 2006 L'Argentière-la-Bessée C1 team 2014 Vienna C1 2016 Liptovský Mikuláš C1 2018 Prague C1 team 2014 Vienna C1 team 2017 Tacen C1 Junior World Championships 1994 Wausau C1 1996 Lipno C1 1996 Lipno C1 team Junior European Championships 1995 Liptovský Mikuláš C1 1995 Liptovský Mikuláš C1 team 1997 Nowy Sącz C1

Michal Martikán (Slovak pronunciation: [ˈmixal ˈmartikaːn]; born 18 May 1979) is a Slovak slalom canoeist who has been competing at the international level since 1994.^[1] In 1996 he became the first athlete to win an Olympic gold medal for Slovakia since the country gained independence in 1993. In total he won 5 Olympic medals (2 golds, 2 silvers and 1 bronze), which is the most among all slalom paddlers.^[2] He has also won the World Championship title in the C1 individual category four times. He is considered by many the greatest C1 slalom paddler alive.

Career

At the age of 16, Michal Martikán became the youngest winner of a World Cup slalom canoeing event.^[3] Three months later, at age 17, Martikán was in sixth place after the first run of the canoe slalom singles event at the 1996 Olympics. With nothing to lose, he went all out on the second run and just bettered the score of defending champion Lukáš Pollert of the Czech Republic. Martikán was the first Olympic champion to represent independent Slovakia. He entered the 2000 Olympics as the favourite, having consistently finished near the top in every major competition and in each World Cup series. At the Sydney Games, Martikán registered the best score in the qualifying round, but was only in fifth place after the first run of the final. In the second run, he paddled a perfect course and his time was the fastest of the round. He was able to move up to the silver medal position behind Tony Estanguet of France. Competing in his third Olympics in 2004, Martikán again led the qualifying round. He also earned the highest score in the semifinals, which also served as the first run of the final. After the second run, it appeared that Martikán had regained the Olympic title, but the referees controversially decided to award him a two-second penalty which pushed him to second place, only 12 hundredths of a second behind Estanguet. Martikán regained the Olympic title at the 2008 games in Beijing.^[4] At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London Martikán took bronze. Michal Martikán is the only slalom canoeist to win five Olympic medals, one in each of the five games from 1996 through 2012.

At the World Championships, Martikán had an uninterrupted medal run in the individual C1 event between 1995 and 2010. The 2011 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships saw him finish outside the medals for the first time in an Olympic or World Championship individual race in his career. Ironically, this failure came in front of a home crowd on the Čunovo course near Bratislava. However, he managed to win gold in the team event with his Slovak teammates to prolong his medal run. He won another five gold medals in the C1 team event between 2013 and 2018, making it 16 straight World Championships with a medal.

He won his first medals in 1995 when he was just 16. He took a bronze in the C1 event and another bronze in the C1 team event. In 1997 he won his first individual world title as well as team gold. He won the individual C1 event on three more occasions (2002, 2003 and 2007). As of 2017 he has a total of 22 World Championship medals (14 golds, 3 silvers and 5 bronzes) which is more than any other slalom paddler in any category.

He has also won the overall World Cup title five times (1998, 2000, 2001, 2006, 2014), which is a record among C1 paddlers.

At the European Championships he has won four straight individual golds between 2007 and 2010. Slovakia won the C1 team event 10 times with him in the team. He also has 6 silvers (4 individual and 2 in team event) and 2 bronzes (1 individual and 1 in the team event).

Martikán is coached by his father Jozef.^[5]

World Cup individual podiums

¹ World Championship counting for World Cup points

² European Championship counting for World Cup points

³ Oceania Championship counting for World Cup points

Awards

• Slovak Sportsperson of the Year: 1996, 1997, 2007, 2008
• Inducted into the Whitewater Hall of Fame: 2010.^[5]

Manslaughter conviction

In November 1997 Martikán was involved in a car accident near the village of Velké Zálužie, Slovakia.^[6] The car he was driving hit a pedestrian causing him fatal injuries. The investigation concluded that Martikán was traveling substantially over the 40 km/h speed limit. It was also found that the killed man was intoxicated at the time of the accident.

With Martikán facing actual incarceration due to the violation of his probation terms, then-president Rudolf Schuster, amid grave criticism, granted Martikán a presidential pardon,^[7] which besides sparing him from jail time effectively meant removal of the conviction from his criminal record. Schuster argued that Martikán's positive athletic representation of the country abroad warranted the pardon, while critics pointed to the double standard and the preferential treatment Martikán was receiving as a sport celebrity.

See also

• List of multiple Olympic medalists in one event
• List of multiple Summer Olympic medalists

References

External links

• Official website
• Michal Martikán at the International Canoe Federation
• Michal Martikán at Olympics at Sports-Reference.com
• 2010 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships 12 September 2010 C1 men's final results. – accessed 12 September 2010.
• 2010 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships 12 September 2010 C1 men's team final results – accessed 12 September 2010.
• 12 September 2009 final results of the men's C1 team slalom event for the 2009 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships. – accessed 12 September 2009.
• 13 September 2009 final results of the men's C1 event at the 2009 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships. – accessed 13 September 2009.
• ICF medalists for Olympic and World Championships – Part 2: rest of flatwater (now sprint) and remaining canoeing disciplines: 1936–2007 at WebCite (archived 9 November 2009)

Olympic Games
Preceded by Slavomír Kňazovický	Flagbearer for  Slovakia Athens 2004	Succeeded by Elena Kaliská