Ján Zachara

“That was the crown of all medalists. Although, I felt quite bad at the welcoming ceremonial at the Strahov Stadium. Back then, the Prime Minister Fierlinger welcomed all of the Olympic contestants, but he forgot to mention that Zachara achieved the 7th place. Then they silently settled it, but during the ceremonial Prague tour I didn't even want to get on the bus. I was lucky to have a wonderful coach, also an athlete, who told me: 'Don't give a damn, Jeník, you shall become a civilian, so just let it be.' Thus I rode around in that bus as well. So this was the end of that ceremonial welcoming.”

“I don't try to make any hero of myself, but once I began with sport, I was using my whole free time for training. For example, I used to run into the mountains. The times were hard back then; there were problems with wood and coal. The wood was then taken from Trenčín mountains. We had permission from the city hall to be able to pick only dry branches. This way I knew that by climbing a tree and cutting dry branches I was working out not only my courage, but also my hands. This all a boxer really needs, although, I never had too much strength. I used to say to myself, that my rivals beat me with a stick and I punched them just with a hat.”