Otakar Jandera

Biographical information

RolesCompeted in Olympic Games
SexMale
Full nameOtakar•Jandera
Used nameOtakar•Jandera
Born9 January 1898 in Kraków (Cracow), Małopolskie (POL)
Died25 March 1977 in Praha (Prague), Hlavní město Praha (CZE)
Measurements183 cm / 72 kg
AffiliationsSlavia Praha, Praha (CZE)
NOC Czechoslovakia
Nationality Czechia

Biography

When Otakar Jandera was 17-years-old he joined the athletics team of Slavia Praha where he won his first high jump competition. Shortly after Jandera was fighting on the battlefield during World War I where he suffered a shrapnel injury in his leg from a grenade. Rather than that being the end of his sporting career he took up yoga to make a full recovery, returning to the athletics track. During the 1920s and the early 1930s Jandera became a 12-time champion of Czechoslovakia in the 110 metres hurdles and a four-time national champion in the triple jump.

Jandera ran in the 110 metres hurdles at the 1924 Paris Olympics where he reached the semi-finals. He was also scheduled to run in the 4 × 100 metres relay in Paris but the Czechoslovak quartet did not start the race. Four years later he ran in the hurdles at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics where he once again reached the semi-finals.

Following the German occupation during World War II Jandera joined the Czech resistance organisation Defence of the Nation (“Obrana národa”) but was arrested in 1942 and sentenced to four years in prison. In February 1945, with the Germans retreating from the British, Jandera was forced on a death march and was one of only a handful of prisoners to survive the ordeal. Following the war he was a member of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia where he worked in the physical education arm of the Ministry of Education. After a trip to the Soviet Union Jandera founded his own sports school for young athletes in 1952.

There was a conflicting account around Jandera’s death, which involved him dying after he fell off his bicycle. This proved to be false as he was involved in an accident when a tram hit him as he crossed a road in Letná, Praha. Despite ending up in hospital nothing serious had happened to him. The day before Jandera was scheduled to be discharged, however, he developed a blood clot, which caused a fatal heart attack.

Personal Best: 110H – 15.1 (1927).

Results

Games Discipline (Sport) / Event NOC / Team Pos Medal Nationality As
1924 Summer Olympics Athletics TCH CZE Otakar Jandera
110 metres Hurdles, Men (Olympic) 4 h2 r2/3
4 × 100 metres Relay, Men (Olympic) Czechoslovakia DNS
1928 Summer Olympics Athletics TCH CZE Otakar Jandera
110 metres Hurdles, Men (Olympic) 6 h2 r2/3

Special Notes