I was the first to jump „V-style“
Stáhnout obrázek
Jiří Malec was born on November 24, 1962, in Zásada in the Liberec region to the family of project engineer Jiří Malec and accountant Olga Malcová. Both parents were members of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, but his father disagreed with the political developments following the August occupation and was expelled. After subsequent negotiations, his expulsion was reevaluated and changed to a removal from the party, which saved the witness‘s sports career. Jiří Malec was an active child from an early age and, thanks to the environment of the Jizera Mountains, had an affinity for winter sports. Around the age of twelve, he joined the TJ Sokol Vlastiboř sports club, where he started as a Nordic combined skier. He did not enjoy cross-country skiing, so he gradually switched to ski jumping. After graduating from high school in Tanvald, he joined the military service at Dukla Liberec, where he devoted himself fully to ski jumping training. Jiří Malec was the first jumper to use the V-style, spreading his skis apart, but at that time it was not allowed and the judges often deducted points from him. His first major successes came in 1981, when he finished 3rd and 4th in the Tatra Cup. In 1987, he won the Universiade in the High Tatras and during the 1987/1988 season he became the overall winner of the European Cup. At the Winter Olympics in Calgary (1988), he won a bronze medal on the medium hill and then finished fourth in the team competition with the Czechoslovakian team. He ended his sporting career in 1991, and a year later, the V-style, for which he would receive point deductions, became popular. After ending his career, he devoted himself to coaching, serving as assistant to Olympic champion Jiří Raška, among others. After ending his coaching career, he continued to serve in the army and served in a chemical unit in Liberec, from where he left for civilian life in 2001. He then became a physical education teacher. At the time of filming (2025), Jiří Malec lived with his wife in Vlastiboř and collaborated with the Chrti v nouzi (Greyhounds in Need) foundation.
