| Personal information | |
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| Born | 6 July 1960 (1960-07-06) (age 64) Kopernica,Czechoslovakia |
Jozef Pribilinec (Slovak pronunciation:[ˈjɔzefˈpribiliɲets]; born 6 July 1960) is aSlovaktrack and field athlete who mainly competed inracewalking. He was born inKopernica. Pribilinec competed for the formerCzechoslovakia at the1988 Summer Olympics held inSeoul,South Korea where he won the gold medal in the men's20 kilometre walk event.[1]
He represented Czechoslovakia for most of his career and in addition to his Olympic gold, won two silver medals at theWorld Championships in Athletics (1983 and 1987) and one gold and one silver at theEuropean Athletics Championships for his country. He was a two-time champion at theEuropean Athletics Indoor Championships, winning in 1987 and 1988 over distances of 3000 m and 5000 m, respectively. He was a four-time participant at theIAAF World Race Walking Cup and his best performance was a win over 20 km at the1983 IAAF World Race Walking Cup, becoming his country's first victor at the competition. He had previously shown his developing talent as a youngster with a win at the1979 European Athletics Junior Championships.[2]
His personal best time of 1:19:30 hours for the 20 km race was aworld record from 24 September 1983 to 3 May 1987. This continued a tradition of Czechoslovak record holders, following in the steps ofVáclav Balšán andJosef Doležal.[3]
Before retiring, he represented Slovakia at the1993 World Championships in Athletics, placing 17th in themen's 20 km walk.[4]
Pribilinec was elected into the House of the People within theFederal Assembly in first free elections of June 1990 as a member ofCommunist Party of Slovakia (KSS) within theCommunist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ). He was elected as a deputy for:sk:Stredoslovenský kraj. He resigned shortly after the election.[5] In1994, Pribilinec was elected as an MP intoNational Council running as a candidate on a party list ofCommon Choice coalition. He was nominated by the reformed post-communistSDĽ party, of which he was not a member, however. Ahead of thenext elections, in the summer of 2002, Pribilinec fell out with party leaderPavel Koncoš, departed from the party caucus and did not stand for re-election.[6] Concerning his Communist Party membership, Pribilinec said that he entered the party, aged 22, out of conviction, believing in declared values.[7]
In 2022, Pribilinec ran unsuccessfully for a post of a regional deputy ofBanská Bystrica Region as a candidate of minor extra-parliamentary national partyHeart within theŽiar nad Hronom District precinct, with sport, tourism and service sector development, as his main agenda. Of 21 candidates, with 4 elected deputies, Pribilinec came 16th with 954 votes (2%).[8][9] In the build-up to the elections, he advocated in support ofSlovalco aluminium plant inŽiar nad Hronom, in a campaign seeking financial support for rising energy costs.[10]
| Records | ||
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| Preceded by | Men's 20 km Walk World Record Holder 24 September 1983 – 3 May 1987 | Succeeded by |
European Athletics Championships champions in men's20 kilometres race walk | |
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