Hrabáková Věra

"First they came from Rožnov, which was too early, I didn't think I could go anywhere, I didn't want to leave home. Then we had some training camp, I was at the championship training camp. They came from Střešovice first and then from Slávia, and they were the most convincing. I knew them probably the most, there were girls from Slávia, on the national team, Naďa Špelinová, Líba Šormová, Heda Mikulecká, they were friendly, also Alena Ursínyová. They convinced me or lured me to Prague. I didn't have an apartment, it was out of the question to get me an apartment or something like that. So my aunt, my mother's sister, came to my rescue. I lived there for two years, but she had two children and my grandmother also lived in the apartment. So they took me in, and then I moved to the changing rooms of Slávia Praha. I couldn't live at my aunt's anymore, their children were growing up, they were big and it wasn't possible anymore. We had a dressing room at Slávia, the girls helped me clean it up and move out the lockers. I put a bed in there, I lived in the dressing room at Slavia for about six months. Then Slávia helped me to get not an apartment, but housing in the Women's Home in Smíchov. I lived there with one resident, there were two of us. She wasn't much of a sports person, but it worked. Blanka Vargová also lived in the next building, and we thought we would live together, but it didn't work out. I lived in the Women's Home until I got married."

"We stayed in the village, where was a farm. They moved us from the house into three rooms, we stayed there, and then my parents moved to Moravia." - "Do you remember anything about that time, how it affected your dad or your mom?" - "I don't remember much, I don't think we really perceived it. My parents tried to keep us out of trouble. Additionally, I know that Dad took the eviction hard, he went without his family to a new environment. It must have been really not nice for my parents. Dad stayed on to work there, he got a job on the farm too, it was Sugar Economics. He stayed in the business there, he was the manager of that business, it was quite big and there was a farm by it. But it was Sugar Economics. There was also a sugar factory in the village, and my mother worked there afterward. Because it wasn't possible to survive on one salary. My mother worked in the sugar factory. Dad was left there, and then - I don't know what year - he was also kicked off the farm. He couldn't be employed there because he was a former farmer, so they made him a warehouse worker in the district construction company. It was a complete degradation of such a clever and capable man, he truly was impeccable."

"I just want to say that volleyball influenced me a lot, we've been through a lot, we're still friends with the girls and it's nice to see each other. The meetings that the volleyball association has with us are nice. I was really into it, volleyball. I wanted to make something of it. When it was over, I wanted to have a family, I was more of a family person and maybe cared too much. I wanted to have a family. I have four amazing granddaughters now, almost all of them want to play volleyball or are playing volleyball. We used to think only about volleyball, we didn't see right or left. If there was volleyball, you went, had to, or wanted to. You had to and you wanted to. And then mostly family. That's what I'm happy about."

"Except we didn't go to the wedding, I mean the wedding of Čáslavská and Odložil, it was an unbelievable commotion in the streets. We watched it on TV. We were living with Čáslavská, there was an apartment unit, she was living there with us, it was in an apartment about 3+1. What was around her, we perceived a little bit, the preparations - she was combing her hair and getting dressed. We used to go to the paddleboats, but it was conditional that we got on the bus because it wasn't right in the village, those sports. We were on a perfect trip because a family from Jablonec signed up to join the girls who were there for work. They checked in with the girls and offered to take us on a trip, which was unimaginable. Three of us went, I was in a room with the Jablonec girls, Irena Hrádková and Elen Moskalová. We went inland to Popocatépetl, there was a swimming pool, natural bathing, and then we were at Popocatépetl. That was something wonderful! We went there in the morning, and back in the evening. There was a funny story, I'm not going to pin it on Ellen, so it doesn't look like I'm gossiping. We bought some gold in Mexico, it was a bargain to buy gold there, it was cheaper, and Elen bought herself, poor thing, some gold bracelet. We jumped in the bathing pool - it turned green, and we made fun of her, that the gold turned green. There was sulfur water, not normal, somewhat green. It was an amazingly nice trip, the people were so nice. I don't know how it happened after that, I don't think we ever saw them again."

"We were first in Třeboň, there was a resort there, it was nice. Then we went to Austria to Reisseck, about 2,300 meters up or whatever, to have pre-Olympic acclimatization. The morning of August 21 we were packing up, and the coach came and said, 'Girls, we're occupied, there's a shooting in Prague, they're shooting at the border, tanks are coming. We weren't sure what it would look like.' We were shocked, nothing pleasant, but we went down the hill and said we would go to Vienna and find out more there. We got to Vienna, we were, I think, at our embassy. They told us that they didn't know if we would be able to get home, if we would be able to go on, and that the border was occupied by Russian tanks. We were in Vienna all day, then we went to the border. At the border, they told us that we probably wouldn't be able to go further, that tanks were coming from Central Bohemia to Budějovice, to go to Budějovice, but to be careful because we might encounter tanks. We were nervous because we did encounter tanks. We got to Budějovice, we spent the night there. There was a tank on every corner of the square. The next day we went to Prague, but again, 'Drive carefully!' That was an unpleasant end to the training camp. We arrived in Prague, there were tanks there too. In Prague, they told us that the Olympics would probably not be held, that it was canceled because of this, and that we would not go there. It took quite a long time to negotiate at the last minute, between the states and our management, that we would go there, and the whole Czechoslovak team would go there. At the last minute, it was done, it couldn't be refused for us not to go there, because of something. I tell you, it was a terrible experience. 'Drive carefully, the tanks are coming against you,' it was very unpleasant. In Prague, we parted home, my husband and I lived in Sokolovská Street. From Red Justice Press onwards, Sokolovská was full of tanks, the whole width from Red Justice onwards, I couldn't see anything. They were shooting at the Red Justice, they were shooting from the Hlávkov Bridge, you weren't allowed there. At night, soldiers would go into the apartments and open the doors. I was terribly afraid, fortunately, we lived on the third floor. We looked out, and there were tanks everywhere. Russian soldiers, I don't know if they were only Russian, were going from house to house and rattling the doors. Nothing pleasant. The biggest thing lasted about a week. It has stayed with me ever since - tanks in the streets. On top of that, a doctor I knew was shot in the leg at Klárov when she was treating someone."