Karel Ardelt

Karel Ardelt played singles and doubles at the 1920 Antwerpen Olympics. He was also entered in the 1912 singles at Stockholm, but did not play, which has led to some ongoing confusion which we’ll discuss. Ardelt studied architecture at the Czech Technical University in Praha. He played Davis Cup for Czechoslovakia in 1921-22, appearing in two ties, but losing all five of his matches. Ardelt was author of a popular Czech book on tennis and edited the Czech monthly magazine “Table Tennis and Tennis.” He lived in Černošice, near Praha, where he designed a number of tennis courts and the LTC Praha Letna stadium. In 1964 he received the Czechoslovak Order of Merit for his contribution to the development of physical education and sport in the country. He married Anda Havliček and they had two sons, Robă and Karliček.

Another Bohemian tennis player at the 1912 Olympics was Karel Fuchs, later Karel Robětín, occasionally seen as Karel von Robětín. Many sources state that this was one person, who competed in both 1912 and 1920, with different names, but our extensive research on this matter has shown this not to be true.

In fact, both were entered in the singles in 1912 at Stockholm, but Karel Ardelt did not play. Further, there are 1912 Olympic entry forms for both players in the Stockholm Riksarchivet. The confusion arises partly because their birthdates are very close – three days apart. Further confirmation that there were two such persons comes from Bohemian family conscription forms, which document the two different families, and some newspaper articles on the 1921 Davis Cup match against Belgium, in which Ardelt played, but the story was sent to the newspapers by Robětín, and it specifically mentions both names. We also know of the wives and descendants of both athletes and they are not the same, and we have spoken to the grandson of Robětín. Sources calling Karel Ardelt and Karel Fuchs-Robětín the same person are in error.