Jozef Pribilinec (; born 6 July 1960) is a Slovak

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

athlete who mainly competed in

racewalking Racewalking, or race walking, is a long-distance discipline within the sport of athletics. Although a foot race, it is different from running in that one foot must appear to be in contact with the ground at all times. Race judges carefully asse ...

. He was born in Kopernica. Pribilinec competed for the former

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

at the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

held in

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

where he won the gold medal in the men's 20 kilometre walk event. He represented Czechoslovakia for most of his career and in addition to his Olympic gold, won two silver medals at the World Championships in Athletics (1983 and 1987) and one gold and one silver at the

European Athletics Championships The European Athletics Championships is a biennial (from 2010) athletics event organised by the European Athletics Association and is recognised as the elite continental outdoor athletics championships for Europe. Editions First held, for men ...

for his country. He was a two-time champion at the

European Athletics Indoor Championships The European Athletics Indoor Championships is a biennial indoor track and field competition for European athletes that is organised by the European Athletic Association. It was held for the first time in 1970, replacing the European Indoor Games ...

, winning in 1987 and 1988 over distances of 3000 m and 5000 m, respectively. He was a four-time participant at the IAAF World Race Walking Cup and his best performance was a win over 20 km at the 1983 IAAF World Race Walking Cup, becoming his country's first victor at the competition. He had previously shown his developing talent as a youngster with a win at the

1979 European Athletics Junior Championships The 1979 European Athletics Junior Championships was the fifth edition of the biennial athletics competition for European athletes aged under twenty. It was held in Bydgoszcz Bydgoszcz ( , , ; german: Bromberg) is a city in northern Poland, ...

. His personal best time of 1:19:30 hours for the 20 km race was a

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

from 24 September 1983 to 3 May 1987. This continued a tradition of Czechoslovak record holders, following in the steps of Václav Balšán and Josef Doležal. Before retiring, he represented Slovakia at the

1993 World Championships in Athletics The 4th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held in the Neckarstadium, Stuttgart, Germany between 13 and 22 August with the participation of 187 nations. Having ori ...

, placing 17th in the men's 20 km walk.Jozef Pribilinec
IAAF. Retrieved on 2015-02-01.

References

External links

* * * * 1960 births Living people People from Žiar nad Hronom District Slovak male racewalkers Czechoslovak male racewalkers Olympic gold medalists for Czechoslovakia Athletes (track and field) at the 1980 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1988 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes of Czechoslovakia World record setters in athletics (track and field) World Athletics Championships medalists European Athletics Championships medalists World Athletics Championships athletes for Czechoslovakia World Athletics Championships athletes for Slovakia Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships winners World Athletics Indoor Championships medalists {{Czechoslovakia-Olympic-medalist-stub