Alois Hudec: Gymnast insulted Hitler, spent his whole life in Prague-Nuslí
Alois Hudec, lifelong falcon, who observed even in his old age the motto: a healthy spirit in a healthy body, was born into the family of the weaver Antonín and his wife Františka, who “lived in a cottage on the hillside under the forest, they had nine children,” reports sports editor Pavel Kovář in the book Winners and Losers . . Račice in the Vyškov region became his birthplace in 1908. He was said to have had the nickname of the fallow since he was a child.
“Why the fall? I was falling from everything, from the stool, from the chair… and so am I he wasn’t very clever. One such fall could have been fatal,” Hudec himself recalled years later, whose sentences Kovář quotes in his book. “I was five years old when I climbed high into the crown of the walnut tree. There, a branch broke with me, I was falling, but luckily other branches stopped me, I caught hold of the last one above the ground, and that saved my life.”
Fighter
He showed clearly that he had a strong root in his early childhood. At the time, he had no idea that it would be the high-altitude gymnastics disciplines in which he would one day dominate the entire world. Despite the life blow that hit them as a schoolgirl. Also at the age of five he had diphtheria. “It was very dreaded disease to die for.’
Alois proved again incredible combativeness and he won over the disease, even though he suffered the consequences of his struggle with it. “After diphtheria, I was afflicted with paralysis in my left face, left hip and left leg. When I started going to school, I had to drag my leg behind me,” said Hudec himself. Handicap in which, according to him, stimulated the desire to match the others, so as not to fall behind them. Already as a child he started going to Sokol, regular exercise, and also catching crayfish in cold water, his leg got better. “At least that’s what I think all my life,” he states.
Little gymnast
She started gymnastics during her school years, specifically in 1920. “We made a trapeze in the garden at home. Brother Antonín came up with the idea, who fought in Russia as a legionnaire and won the Army Sokol Championship there,” Hudec recalled. Parallel bars followed the parallel bars. “This time the word gymnastics was not used. We simply said – exercise.”
Broken wrist
Hudec began his apprenticeship in Zbrojovka in Brno. He did not begrudge gymnastics and participated in various competitions and in 1931 even the first world championship, where he nominated with two broken bones in his wrist! From the World Contest nomination “he was so surprised that he only packed two rolls in his briefcase for the day and a half train journey in addition to the most necessary clothes“, Kovář describes.
AND he wiped the eyes of his opponents at the championship in France. Also due to poor organization, which was accompanied by disagreements, not all participants met the set conditions, unlike Hudek. “He won a total of five gold medals: for the overall victory, then for rings, bars, parallel bars and climbing.” As an unknown youngster and a representative of the Czech Sokol, he suddenly became a hero even at home in the Czech Republic. “The greatest glory took place at Wilson’s station and then at Tyrš’s house,” on the Little Side.
Tyršova dom gymnasium from the outside
Author: Veronika Foltová
From Moravia to Prague
In the end, it was Prague, the capital of Czechoslovakia, that attracted Hudek to its streets. It was 1934 and Hudec “he received an offer to train for Sokol Vinohrady and work in the file room of the National Bank of Czechoslovakia in Na Příkopě street. He didn’t hesitate, there was no reason,” Kovář continues. As with Prague, specifically Nusle, became his forever home, working in a bank became Hudcová lifelong sustenance. And despite the difficult conditions.
A winner through self-denial
“Working regime he was strict here,” states Kovář, adding that the concluded employment contract also contained a clause in which, as a rule, Hudec would not be released for work duties. “He only got to the gym after workoften until after eight o’clock in the evening.” The dry regime soon began to take its toll on Hudec’s health, which was most evident at the 1934 World Championships in Hungary, where Hudec traveled despite painful injuries.
“He had a torn muscle starting from the lumbar vertebrae going to the pelvic boneand. He suffered from pain and he could not perform some exercises at all,” states Sokol chronicler František Erben. The all-around event, which at the time included athletics in addition to gymnastics, ended with self-denial so that the Czech team would not end up in a worse position. With his efforts for her, he won silver in the team competition and won a gold medal for himself in the rings. But after this tragedy, better times began to flash.
Hitler’s disgrace
The Olympics in Munich were approaching, at which Hudec was one of the favorites. And they were aware of it at home. “Perhaps after the intercession of the President of the Republic, Edvard Beneš, his bosses allowed him to leave his job earlier, so that he doesn’t have to train so late,” explains Kovář. He was even promoted at work.
The Olympic Games in 1936 truly became the crowning glory of Hudc’s career. It was said that, unlike the larger countries, Czechoslovakia, i.e. the Czechia and Slovakia, does not have that many gold Olympians. All the more valuable is Hudc’s gold, which he fought in circles directly in front of Adolf Hitler, who did not believe – or rather did not want to believe his own eyes. “We will never again see a performance like Hudec’s in Berlin,” we would read in the contemporary press.
Hudec performed “five contradictions instead of the usual one, and I didn’t hold the prescribed three, but to be sure, five seconds,” he recalled. The entire stadium applauded the performance. Except maybe one man. Hudc’s wife later confided in him that “Adolf Hitler hurriedly left the stand after my set to a huge round of applause. She was sitting quite close, she said she also noticed the displeasure on his face.”
Blesk Podcast: Putin is not like Hitler. Germany is close to Russia, says the historian Jiří Marek
Nevertheless, Hitler had to bite the bitter bite, because it was Hudc’s performance recorded his court director Leni Riefenstahl on camera in the documentary Olympia, which was to become a celebration of the games. “Whenever he played for the protectorate, we went to watch. We were annoyed by Hitler’s fascist arrogance, we had to suffer footage of fat Göring and a big-mouthed dwarf Goebbels, but because of one, albeit not a long, shot of Lojzík Hudek’s amazing line-up, it was worth it,” recalled athlete and journalist Otakar Mašek. A little over a minute is devoted to Hudc’s set in the film. Paradoxically, it was also the peak of his career swan song.
Who laughs last…
They also performed remarkable performances at the 1938 World Championship, which was held in Prague. But then Munich has arrivedin 1939 Protectorate of Bohemia in Moravia AND Nazi occupation. That was the end of Hudc’s top career. And along with it, the joy of enthusiastic exercise under the banner of Sokol, which the Germans banned.
“Then he received an offer to be a trainer in the collaborative Curatoriumin which the Nazis wanted to raise Czech children on the model of the Hitler Youth,” notes Kovář. It was a difficult decision for Hudek, whom the Germans respected, but at the same time resented the gold medal at their Olympics. Finally with him patriotism won out over self-preservationdespite the possible risks of his decision, he shook his head.
“He refused and lived in uncertainty. From an apartment in Nuslí, near Vyšehrad, he only went to the bank – walking there and back every day. And then to the garden on the Hajnovka hill in Libeň,” says Kovář, adding that he also had a small garden in the gardening colony – in the location where the Libeň gas plant stands today. His residence was located according to the Encyclopedia of Prague 2 in Krokova street 778/9. He was even followed by the police, but nothing serious ever happened. “He didn’t set foot in the gym, but when he felt like working out and it was summer, he went with his family to Podolí to the Yellow Spa. He didn’t win, but people couldn’t forget him,” says the book Winners and Losers: Historical Moments of Czech Sport.
Krokova Street in Nuslí, where Alois Hudec lived most of his life until his last days.
Author: ÚMČ Prague 2
End in pain
After the war, once again in a free homeland, Hudec returned to the Sokol gymnasium in Vinohrady. But he soon realized that the ravages of time and injuries took their toll on his body. While practicing on the trapeze, he bounced badly and disaster struck. “His right leg was broken in the hole, while his left leg had crushed his heel bone“, Kovář continues.
The race was decided to hang on a nail, despite her Sokolovs persuading him not to participate in the 1948 Olympics, which were held in London. For the 40-year-old Hudek, it was enough. He stayed coach AND trainer, which still came to the bank from Nuslí, in which the January 23, 1997 concluded his life story. Even in his old age he kept fit. “For a quarter of an hour a day, he exercised in the living room on the carpet in sets focusing on the muscles of the back, abdomen and arms“, Kovář revealed. The last honor, which he unfortunately did not receive, was for him awarding of the Emil Zátopek in memoriam award for lifetime contribution to sport.
The famous Czechoslovak gymnast Alois Hudec, who wiped the eyes of his competitors at the Olympics in Berlin in 1936. With an extraordinary performance, he won an Olympic gold medal on the rings.
Author: ÚMČ Prague 2
The famous Czechoslovak gymnast Alois Hudec, who wiped the eyes of his competitors at the Olympics in Berlin in 1936. With an extraordinary performance, he won an Olympic gold medal on the rings.
Author: ÚMČ Prague 2