Jan Gajdoš

Jan Gajdoš (27 December 1903 – 19 November 1945) was a Czech gymnast, representing Czechoslovakia. He competed in two Olympic Games and five gymnastics World Championships.

Jan Gajdoš
Jan Gajdoš in 1928
Personal information
Country represented	Czechoslovakia
Born	(1903-12-27)27 December 1903 Brno, Austria-Hungary
Died	9 November 1945(1945-11-09) (aged 41) Brno, Czechoslovakia
Hometown	Prague
Residence	Prague
Discipline	Men's artistic gymnastics
Medal record Representing Czechoslovakia Olympic Games 1928 Amsterdam Team World Championships 1926 Lyon Team 1926 Lyon Pommel Horse 1926 Lyon Parallel Bars 1930 Luxembourg Team 1930 Luxembourg All-Around 1930 Luxembourg Pommel Horse 1930 Luxembourg Rings 1931 Paris All-Around 1934 Budapest Team 1938 Prague Team 1938 Prague All-Around 1938 Prague Floor Exercise

Competitive career

His first Olympics was in 1928, where he took silver in the team competition. Switzerland won the competition. Individually, he won no medals, but he finished fourth in the horizontal bar, and eighth in the rings. At his next Olympics, in 1936, he again won no medals, but the team finished fourth in the team competition.

From a 1932 issue of Czechoslovakian journal "Věstník Sokolský" showcasing 3 of their gymnasts, (L-R), 1938 World All-Around Men's Champion Jan Gajdoš, 1934 and 1938 World All-Around Women's Champion Vlasta Děkanová, and 1931 World All-Around Men's Champion and 1936 Olympic Rings Champion Alois Hudec, with a caption putting them forth, reading "Our Best" (translated from Czech)

At the World Championships, he took three golds in the team competition; in 1926, 1930 and 1938. He also took a team silver in 1934. Individually, he took two silver medals in 1926. In 1930, he took overall silver, behind Josip Primožič, and also won bronze in the pommel horse and rings.

In 1934, he won no individual medals, but took sixth place overall. In his last World Championships, in 1938, he won gold both in the individual all-around and floor exercise, as well as top-8 place finishings on 4 of the 5 other apparatuses.

Legacy

An active member of the Sokol organization, during World War II he was an active member of Sokol resistance group. He died shortly after the end of World War II, after being put on a death march by the Nazi Germans.

Grave of Jan Gajdoš at the cemetery in Brno-Židenice

From 15–16 November 2008, an international gymnastics event was arranged in memory of Gajdoš; Jan Gajdoš Memorial 2008 in Brno.

External links

• Jan Gajdoš at Olympics at Sports-Reference.com (archived)
• Jan Gajdos at DatabaseOlympics.com at the Wayback Machine (archived 17 October 2012)
• Jan Gajdos at Olympics.com