They thought he was a geek in the army. Because of his sister’s emigration, he was just a graduate private
Download image
Jiří Holanec was born on 29 April 1953 in Opočno. After primary school he entered the Secondary Industrial School of Construction in Hradec Králové. He graduated from the Czech Technical University in Prague, majoring in Geodesy. His sister emigrated to Sweden in 1968, which affected his basic service in the Czechoslovak People’s Army. He joined it after college as a mere private graduate. It was something quite extraordinary. He made a living as a surveyor all his life. From a young age, he was a mountaineer and boulderer. After 1989, he bought a quarry near his home. It is one of the oldest places in the Czech Republic where bouldering can be practiced. In 2023 he lived in Opočno.
