Vlasta Děkanová

Vlasta Děkanová
Country represented  Czechoslovakia
Born (1909-09-05)September 5, 1909
Died October 16, 1974(1974-10-16) (aged 65)
Discipline Women's artistic gymnastics
Medal record
Representing  Czechoslovakia
Olympic Games
1936 BerlinTeam
World Championships
1934 BudapestTeam[1]
1934 BudapestAll-around[1]
1938 PragueTeam[2]
1938 PragueAll-around[2]

Vlasta Děkanová (September 5, 1909 – October 16, 1974), a Czechoslovak/Czech artistic gymnast, was the first ever World All-Around Champion in the sport of Women's Artistic Gymnastics.

At the 1936 Berlin Olympics, she helped her team to the silver medal. The next two succeeding Summer Olympics were cancelled due to World War II. But twelve years later at the 1948 London Olympics, the Czechoslovakian women's team brought home the gold medal through Dekanova's guidance, as she was the team coach.

There was no individual competition at the very first women's competition at a World Championships in 1934, but of all individuals from any team, Dekanova made a mark by logging the highest all-around total. Dekanova successfully defended her first place position in 1938, becoming the first ever women's Individual World All-Around Champion in the sport of Artistic Gymnastics . Conflicting information exists as to what individual events she won in 1938, when individual apparatus champions, among the women, were first recognized, but all non-primary sources point to her being in first-place on multiple apparatuses.[3][4][5] Another supporting piece of information suggesting her consistent excellence is that at a Czechoslovakian selection competition held in May 15, 1938, just weeks before the 1938 Worlds held on June 30 and July 1, of 19 competing individuals, Dekanova placed first there, also.[6]

Before the introduction of the women's full program at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, medals were awarded to women's teams only, without distinguishing individual athletes. Therefore, Dekanova was the most decorated female artistic gymnast at the World and Olympic level before that time.

Additionally, as Dekanova led her team to its first two World Championship victories and coached her team to Olympic victory in 1948, she can be credited as playing a very crucial role in establishing the legacy of her country in the sport of women's gymnastics. At the 15 World and Olympic competitions held, from 1934 to 1970, they won team medals at all but 2 of those competitions.

References

  1. 1 2 https://usagym.org/PDFs/Results/worlds_artistic_results_1934.pdf
  2. 1 2 https://usagym.org/PDFs/Results/worlds_artistic_results_1938.pdf
  3. ↑ Sport Quick, No 1 des archives sportives -Gymnastique
  4. ↑ Weltmeisterschaften (Damen-Teil1)
  5. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20111007001033/http://sports123.com/gym/index.html
  6. ↑ Dusek, Peter Paul Jr. (1981). Marie Provaznik: Her Life and Contributions to Physical Education. University of Utah.
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