Vladimír Hopka

As we were in Bremen for the first time, I guess it was the sixties, there was a swimmer behind me at the Ministry of the Interior. So they called me to February and instructed me to watch closely what the army was doing there. Of course, there were Americans. And when I got back, they called me and asked what I saw. I, very proud, as we travelled to Bremen, of course, we were proud, we were in tracksuits, we had Czechoslovakia or Czechoslovak Federation printed on them, something like that. And since it was at night, I went on a train where I could sleep. So I opened one compartment where there was only one man, an American soldier and a black man. Today I understand why he was there alone. We didn't say half a word, I lay there and slept. And then I looked through the window and once as the train went, an American jeep stood in front of the ramps. When we got back, this was what I reported on February street, and that ended it. So maybe on the basis of this, I am somewhere mentioned as an agent. It's a humorous story, but it could have had serious consequences.

The nobility seemed to have decided, and my coach, Oto Urban, apparently spoke to them that it would not be a bad thing to try to set a European record for a one hundred meter butterfly. I swam it in just over a minute already in Bremen,1: 00,3. Even in Gottwald in the relay, I already swam it, so they probably decided that I could try to set a European record for 100 meters. There was no 50-meter indoor pool in Czechoslovakia, so the nearest Leipzig was considered, there was a 50-meter pool. So we went there solo with my coach Urban to try and set the European record. Of course, we only travelled to two, travelling at night, which means I didn't sleep. The Germans greeted us with their well-known diet - Eintopf that a spoon is standing in the soup. And after such a night and after such a meal the next day a race was put in. They had it as a youth race, so it was official. I stayed there 1: 01,6, sort of. Just below 1:02. But I did not make it hard, but I did not swim. So they chased me the next day, the race was put in again, and I was already swimming 1: 01.2, which was about five-tenths better than the European record of Talian Dennerlein.