Pavel Sládek

After the breakup of Czechoslovakia Pavel Sládek had a short career as a biathlete representing Slovakia. Sládek was one of four Czech biathletes who were undertaking their military service in Banská Bystrica during the dissolution of Czechoslovakia as members of the military club Dukla Banská Bystrica. It was quite usual at the time that Czechs served their two-years of military service in Slovakia. Therefore, Sládek became a de-facto member of the newly formed independent Slovak Army after the breakup in 1993, as they were simply competing for the country of their military club base.

In 1993 Sládek competed for Slovakia at the Biathlon World Championships in Bulgaria. The following year he and compatriots Pavel Kotraba, Daniel Krčmář, and Lukáš Krejči represented Slovakia at the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics. The quartet finished in 18th place in the 4 × 7.5 kilometres relay, with Sládek finishing in 56th place in the 20 kilometres race. Following the Olympics they all ended their military service, returning to the Czech Republic, and officially became Czech citizens. Sadly Sládek took his own life in March 2000 at the age of 28.