"I got nominated for the 1970 World Championships, we prepared in the Tatras, it was really perhaps the most beautiful World Championships in terms of attendance and the atmosphere of the competition. I was able to start on the large hill, on 90 meters, well. I was in second place after the first round, but I messed up the second round and was only eighth. It was such a beginner´s mistake." - "What did you do? Did you delay the take-off?" - "I took off a bit late, I ripped off a little bit and it didn't fly then." - "Jirka Raška was second behind Napalkov. Láďa Rygl said there was an anti-Russian mood among the people. When the Soviet Nordic combined skiers, who were his biggest rivals, were jumping, people were whistling. Was it the same at the jumping competitions?" - "It was. There was a reaction. Then there was a competition in Banská Bystrica at Srnková, on 90 metres. The Soviets were there too, it was a big international competition. Then there was an awards ceremony and all the Soviet sportsmen, whichever place they won, they got a backpack as a prize." - "To go home?" - "To go home!"
"We were a great team. He and coach Zdeněk Remsa were able to bring us together. We were happy for anybody´s success, no matter who succeeded. For example, I shared room with Franta Rydval, we were better friends, but we were all friends together, like Jirka Raška. I liked Ruda Doubek, I came to a training camp as a newcomer and I watched like crazy. Ruda was cleaning my shoes. I asked him, 'Are you nuts?' He said, 'You're new here, I have to bribe you.'"
"And back then the Ski Flying World Championships was exceptionally held in three days in a row. And the winner was classified out of the results of three days. I was third on Friday, second after Saturday and I won on Sunday. I was really confident and enjoyed jumping." - "Who were your biggest rivals in those years?" - "I think Reiner Schmidt was second and Austrian jumper Schnabl was third. On the first day Prytz of Norway jumped very well and led, then he started to do worse. Then it was me, Schnabl and Schmidt on the winners´ podium." - "How did you feel before the last attempt?" - "It was sharp snow, a bit wet, kind of firn, and we were wearing low shoes, as I say, just ankle-high ski boots. And today boys have the advantage of being able to brace calves against high boots when they are landing and they can manage much longer jumps. That day I fell in Kulm and ploughed on until I burned my hand. You can still see it a bit today. Anyway, I fell, but I had one more jump, I was self-confident and the fall didn't bother me."
"How was the party?" - "Mr. Skrbek from Vysoké used to go with us, he used to go to almost every race at the times of Jirka Raška. He came from Vysoké, he was a big fan of Jirka Raška, and he lived in Ostrava, he was a tailor, he sewed us stretch overalls. He went and ordered a crate of strawberry champagne in the hotel, which we then managed to drink there, we drank it and he got wound up when the bill came."
Karel Kodejška was born on 20 March 1947 in Jičín, and he lived with his parents in Lomnice nad Popelkou. Since childhood he practised ski jumping and he also played ice-hockey with the later world champion Vladimír Martinec. Karel Kodejška’s dad ran a grocery shop in the town. When it was nationalized, he was appointed a manager there. Both father and mother played a lot of sports. Karel Kodejška completed his apprenticeship in Technometra company in Lomnice and at the age of 18 he went to serve his military service in Dukla Banská Bystrica. After completing his basic military service he became a professional soldier. He got into the national team, at the Olympics in Grenoble he acted as a ski jumping forerunner. During a summer training camp by the sea in Yugoslavia he learned about the occupation of Czechoslovakia by the armies of the Warsaw Pact. With his teammates, they returned home later than they were supposed to. The Yugoslavs provided them with free accommodation and food. They also gave them money. In 1970, Karel Kodejška was part of the national team at the World Championships in the High Tatras, finishing eighth on the large hill. At the 1972 Olympics in Sapporo, Japan, he won seventh place on the medium hill. Unfortunately, on the large hill his hopes were wasted by a strong gust of wind which made him fall down. In 1973 he won bronze at the Ski Flying World Championships in Oberstdorf, and two years later he won gold at the World Championships in Kulm. He finished his competitive career in 1977, then he coached young jumpers in Dukla Liberec. Pavel Ploc, Jiří Malec and Jaroslav Sakala, medal winners from the World Championships and Olympics, went through his team. He also worked with young jumpers in Lomnice nad Popelkou. In 2021 he was living there.
Karel Kodejška at the Tatras Cup in the first half of the 1970s, on the left the East German jumper Hans-George Aschenbach, on the right the Swiss Walter Steiner
Karel Kodejška at the Tatras Cup in the first half of the 1970s, on the left the East German jumper Hans-George Aschenbach, on the right the Swiss Walter Steiner
Karel Kodejška (third from right) wearing a shirt of the Amfora celebrity team, from left: commentator and moderator Jiří Vopršal, Jan Rosák, Přemysl Bičovský, on the right next to Karel Kodejška TV commentator Miroslav Slepička and bandleader Karel Vágner
Karel Kodejška (third from right) wearing a shirt of the Amfora celebrity team, from left: commentator and moderator Jiří Vopršal, Jan Rosák, Přemysl Bičovský, on the right next to Karel Kodejška TV commentator Miroslav Slepička and bandleader Karel Vágner
Karel Kodejška (right) as the 1975 King of the White Track, next to him from the right are: a cross-country skier Blanka Paulů, a downhill skier Bohumír Zeman and a cross-country skier Stanislav Henych
Karel Kodejška (right) as the 1975 King of the White Track, next to him from the right are: a cross-country skier Blanka Paulů, a downhill skier Bohumír Zeman and a cross-country skier Stanislav Henych
