PRAGUE (AP) — Czechs paid on Monday a final farewell to the late Vera Caslavska, a seven-time Olympic gymnastics champion best remembered for her protest against the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968.
At a 90-minute ceremony organized by the Czech Olympic Committee, Czech leaders, including Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka, athletes and friends packed the National Theater while the bells of the St. Vitus Cathedral — the country’s biggest and most famous church, one that dates to the 10th century — tolled to honor her.
On the theater’s stage, Caslavska was memorialized through a ballet, a theater performance, a documentary and memories of fellow athletes and friends.