Vlasta Děkanová

Who was Vlasta Děkanová?

Vlasta Děkanová was a Czechoslovak/Czech gymnast two-time World All-Around Gymnastics Champion who also competed in the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

At the 1936 Berlin Olympics, she helped her Czechoslovakian team to the silver, this being her only Olympic medal due to the world wars and the lack of recognition of women for individual medals at the Olympic games until the 1952 Helsinki Olympics.

She also was two-time World All-Around Champion at successive World Gymnastics Championships, as well as Balance Beam Champion at the latter where women's individual event medals were first awarded. This makes her the most decorated woman gymnast at the worldwide level before the introduction of the women's full program into the Olympics, which occurred in 1952.