Attractive, vivacious and talented, Věra Čáslavská of Czechoslovakia was the outstanding gymnast at the 1964 and 1968 Games. In Tokyo she won three gold medals and a silver, winning the all-around, on the balance beam, and the horse vault, and finishing second in the team event. In 1968 at Mexico she dominated, winning four golds (one shared) and two silvers. Her 1968 golds came in the individual all-around, floor exercises, horse vault, and uneven parallel bars. Čáslavská also won a silver medal in the team event in 1960, giving her a total of 11 Olympic medals, which has only been bettered by Larisa Latynina (URS) among female gymnasts. After winning her final gold medal in 1968 she married Czech Olympic silver medalist (1,500 metres in 1964) Josef Odložil (1938-1993), in Mexico. Her victories at Mexico City were dramatic, given the political tenor of the times. She defeated Soviet gymnasts shortly after Soviet tanks had invaded her homeland of Czechoslovakia. At the World Championships, Čáslavská won the 1966 all-around, and the horse vault in both 1962 and 1966. She was all-around European champion in 1965 and 1967, and in 1965, she won the title in all five individual events. In 1989, Čáslavská was appointed President of the Czech Olympic Committee, and in 1995 she was elected as a member of the International Olympic Committee.
Czechia 
Czechoslovakia