Zdeněk Jirotka

Zdeněk Jirotka was a left wing who played for Czechoslovakia at Garmisch-Partenkirchen in the 1936 Winter Olympics. He also skated at the 1934-35 and 1937-38 World Championships, usually alongside his younger brother Drahomir Jirotka. At the Worlds he won a bronze medal and, as that tournament was concurrently a European Championship, added European bronze in 1934-35 and silver in 1938. Zdeněk also played football and tennis, winning several junior tournaments in tennis.

During World War II Jirotka left for England and joined the British Army, fighting at Dunkirk and then Normandie. He worked after the war as an engineer and moved to Chicago in the USA, later retiring to Florida. Jirotka led the European Research Club in Chicago, which encouraged Eastern European expatriates to oppose Communism.