Athletes supported children from the Olympic Foundation

They themselves experienced a time when sports equipment was very hard to find indeed. "I got a leather foil bag. It was terribly heavy, but at least I had a bag. It was a breakthrough in my career in terms of equipment," says Olympic fencer Jiří Beran about his fencing journey. Today, sports equipment is widely available, but not all families can afford it for their children. And the Czech Olympic Foundation helps them with that, too, as it has recently organised a parkour day for children supported by the Foundation in cooperation with the Czech Olympic Committee's Athletes' Commission.

Since 2012, the Czech Olympic Foundation has been supporting children between the ages 6 and 18 whose parents do not have enough money. The aid is also directed to children from foster families and children's homes, and has been used by young sports enthusiasts from hundreds of different sports. Sixty of them gathered at the Bítovská Primary School in Prague. The Foundation does not support only exceptionally talented youngsters; the decisive factor is the desire to move regularly. They are also motivated by Olympic athletes from the Athletes' Commission.

I got a leather foil bag. It was terribly heavy, but at least I had a bag. It was a breakthrough in my career in terms of equipment.

"You can see in these children that they’ve had to take a more difficult path to get into their favourite sport, and of course they appreciate it all the more. And I am happy when I see that in several competitions we have already had successful athletes from the Foundation's support," explained Jiří Ježek, six-time Paralympic cycling champion.

Den České olympijské nadace 2023

Together with him and the fencer Jiří Beran, winner of the Fair Play Award for his gesture at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, the children were also supported by swimmer Lucie Svěcená and skicrosser Nikol Kučerová, President of the Athletes' Commission. They support children because they see the role of sport as extremely important. "I would definitely give it ten points out of ten," says Nikol Kučerová. And Jiří Beran agrees: 'I would like sport to be an integral part of everyone's life. You can learn a lot of things that can be used in everyday life."