Jan Balej

Bohemian wrestler Jan Balej advanced to the fifth round of the lightweight class of Greco-Roman wrestling at the Stockholm Olympics by winning three bouts and one walkover. He then lost the next two bouts against future gold medal winner Emil Väre and future bronze medalist Edvin Mathiasson and was eliminated. This gave him a shared sixth place. Eight years later, in 1920, he had his second appearance in the Olympic arena, this time in the middleweight class. Here, he lost the quarter-final encounter to eventual silver medal winner Arthur Lindfors from Finland. In addition to the Olympics, he competed internationally at the unofficial 1913 Europeans in Budapest finishing 4th. In Bohemia and, after World War I, he clinched six national titles over a period of 12 years: in 1912 (67 kg class), 1913 (70 kg) and 1920, 1921, 1923 as well as 1924 (75kg).

His father, Josef Balej (1856-1906), a trained goldsmith, was one of the founders of weightlifting in Bohemia. Jan was also a multiple national champion in weightlifting (in various disciplines), also competing in various classes. At the European Championships in 1913, he came third in the lightweight category with 347.5 kg in the quadruple competition. When the weightlifter Karel Fejtek broke the European record in the one-arm lift of the 15 kg barbell in 1906 (2222 lifts in 2 ½ hours), Jan Balej achieved the same number of lifts with the ½ kg barbell at the age of 13.