We avoided the Soviets at the Olympics
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Irena Tichá, née Hrádková, was born on 16 February 1943 in Staré Smrkovice in the Jičín region to Ludmila and František Hrádkovi. She grew up in the sokolovna in Jablonec nad Nisou, where her parents worked as administrators. In 1955 Irena Tichá started playing volleyball for the pupils of Spartak Rýnovice. In 1958 she won the second place among the younger juniors at the Czechoslovakian Championship. A year later they took third place among the older juniors and in 1960 they won the gold medal. In 1957-1960, she graduated from the secondary pedagogical school with a qualification as a kindergarten teacher. From 1962 she played for the Czechoslovak national team. In 1962 in Vienna at the World Festival of Youth and Students they won a bronze medal. In the same year she participated in the World Championships in Moscow. In 1968 she married Václav Tichý, with whom she later raised two sons. The invasion of the Warsaw Pact troops found her at a training camp in the Alps. In October 1968, she participated in the Olympic Games in Mexico, where she finished sixth. Upon her return, she ended her professional career. From 1977 to 1990 she held the position of kindergarten director. From 1997-2010 she lived in Finland. In 2024 she lived in Jablonec nad Nisou.
