Karel Otáhal

Biographical information

RolesCompeted in Olympic Games
SexMale
Full nameKarel•Otáhal
Used nameKarel•Otáhal
Born19 January 1901 in Kostelec na Hané, Olomoucký kraj (CZE)
Died23 August 1972 in Velké Opatovice, Jihomoravský kraj (CZE)
NOC Czechoslovakia

Biography

Karel Otáhal was initially trained as a miller. During his military service, he became a regimental draftsman and afterwards attended the Arts and Crafts School and then the Academy of Fine Arts in Praha. He stayed in Paris on a scholarship and studied in Italy for three years from 1931. In 1936 he returned to Czechoslovakia and received an art award at the Academy for Science and Fine Arts in Praha for his portrait busts of Czech artists. He produced over 470 portraits, busts, reliefs, and statues during his lifetime, and was also active designing medals, especially with sports motifs. During World War II he retreated to Moravia and remained there under the communist rule, to which he did not submit. He continued to work as a classic portrait sculptor, mostly of Czech artists. The two submitted works were probably medals or plaques made of gold-plated bronze.

Results

Games Discipline (Sport) / Event NOC / Team Pos Medal As
1948 Summer Olympics Art Competitions TCH Karel Otáhal
Sculpturing, Medals And Plaques, Open (Olympic) AC