Pavel Ploc was born into a sporting family. His father, also named Pavel represented Czechoslovakia in biathlon at the 1968 and 1972 Winter Olympics. Ploc took up ski jumping at the age of six and débuted on the World Cup circuit in the 1981-82 season. During his career, which lasted until 1992, Ploc competed at two Olympic Games and five World Championships. He won the Olympic individual normal hill silver in 1988, Olympic individual large hill bronze in 1984 and team large hill bronzes at the 1984 and 1989 World Championships. He also won silver in 1983 and bronze in 1985 at the World Ski Flying Championships. During the 1983 World Ski Flying Championships, he also set a world record of 181.0 m. Between 1983 and 1990, Ploc also won 10 World Cup events and his best finish overall was second in 1987-88 season.
After finishing his ski jumping career, Ploc has worked as a ski jump coach, coaching the Czech Republic national junior team until 2002. In 1996 he opened a bed & breakfast in Harrachov and also entered politics. From 1998-2010, he was an elected member of the Harrachov town council. He ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the Czech Parliament in 2002 but won that seat in 2006 and became a member of the lower chamber of the Czech Parliament for the Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD). He was re-elected to the parliament in 2010 and in the parliament has been a member of the Science, Education, Culture, Youth and Physical Culture and Petitions Committees. In 2008 he was also elected to the Liberec region council.
Czechoslovakia
Czechia