Diplomacy

DC INTERNATIONAL

SPORTS DOMINATES CZECH EMBASSY’S 2021 ‘MUTUAL INSPIRATIONS’ FESTIVAL

This year’s edition of the Annual Mutual Inspirations Festival was dedicated to Czech gymnast and patriot Věra Čáslavská, a seven-time Olympic gold medalist, four-time World Champion and 11-time European Champion. In 1968, Čáslavská was named the world’s best athlete and the second-most popular woman on the planet after Jackie Kennedy. (Previous festivals have been dedicated, among other famous Czechs, to tennis star Martina Navrátilová, novelist Franz Kafka, composer Antonín Dvořák and filmmaker Miloš Forman.) Čáslavská, who died in 2016, was also an adviser to President Václav Havel, president of the Czech Olympic Committee and a member of the International Olympic Committee.

The festival launched on Sept. 2 with the first of 10 events: the screening of Véra 68, a documentary film by director Olga Sommerová that chronicles Čáslavská’s rise to fame and her simple act of defiance against the Soviet Union during the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City.

On Sept. 9, the Czech Embassy hosted an online conversation with author and attorney Gerhardt Bubnik on “Law and Sport: The Life Odyssey of Harvard’s First Czech Law Graduate.” Among other things, Bubnik—who became a figure-skating judge at top international competitions—discussed his role in the 1994 Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan scandal.

Continuing a tradition that started last year, the Czech Embassy Bike Challenge 2021 features a 19.18-km track in honor of Czech independence, which was established in 1918. The route begins at the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal Towpath in Georgetown, under the Key Bridge, and finishes at Mile Marker 13 at Great Falls, Virginia.

Likewise, a Fitness Challenge is scheduled for Oct. 13. That’s when the Czech Embassy’s main hall will turn into a training facility with leading local personal trainer, coach and fitness specialist Tomas Trnka. Beginners and fitness enthusiasts are welcome to join in the powerful Work Out of the Day (WOD) and learn about the positive impact of behavior change and mental focus on their personal fitness goals.

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