Ladislav Toman

Czechoslovakian sculptor Ladislav Toman attended the ceramic school in Bechyně. He then studied in Praha (Prague) at the universities of applied arts and visual arts. Beginning in 1928 he taught as an assistant at the Institute for Sculpture at the Technical University. Toman made allegorical reliefs for buildings, tombs and sculptures, but also medals. A number of his neorealistic works dealt with the subject of sport.

The eights rowing race on the river Vltava was founded in 1895 by Bohemian sports and Olympic pioneer Josef Rössler-Ořovský. The women’s races started in 1934. The challenge prize Frauenachter (Wanderpreis für das Prager Frauenachter-Rennen) (Women’s Eights – Challenge Trophy for the Praha Women’s Eights Race) was donated by Alois Houba and designed by Ladislav Toman. It was submitted to the 1936 Berlin Olympics, although Toman died in 1935, and was awarded until the end of the 1950s. Then it was badly damaged during transport and only restored in 1978. Since then, the relief has been awarded again as the prize for the women’s eights competition.