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Summary for: Pavel awards top Czech honor to Čáslavská, Forman and JanžurováGymnast Věra Čáslavská, filmmaker Miloš Forman, actress Iva Janžurová and scientist Helena Illnerová received Czechia’s highest state decoration from President Petr Pavel on Wednesday evening.
The Order of the White Lion was awarded posthumously to Čáslavská and Forman during the ceremony at Prague Castle, held on the 108th anniversary of Czechoslovakia’s founding.
“I am very happy. It was beautiful,” Janžurová said afterward. “Tomorrow I will think about whether I deserve it. Today I am not allowing myself that kind of self-critical thinking. What else can I be but grateful and happy?”
Top honors recognize sport, cinema and science
Čáslavská, a seven-time Olympic champion, was recognized for exceptional service to the state in sport and for bringing international distinction to her country.
The presidential office also highlighted her courage in defending freedom and respect for human dignity. Her daughter, Radka Čáslavská, accepted the decoration on her behalf.
Forman, a two-time Academy Award winner for directing, received the honor for his contribution to the arts and his international achievements. The presidential office described the individual’s struggle for freedom and dignity against authority as a recurring theme in his work. His wife, Martina Formanová, accepted the award.
Janžurová was honored for her contribution to the arts, while Illnerová, a former president of the Czech Academy of Sciences and a founder of Czech chronobiology, was recognized for her scientific achievements.
All four had previously received the Medal of Merit. Václav Havel decorated Forman and Čáslavská in 1995; Václav Klaus awarded Illnerová the medal in 2005 and Janžurová in 2006.
Rights advocates and diplomats also recognized
Pavel awarded the Order of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk to seven people, recognizing contributions to democracy, humanity and human rights.
Recipients included Elena Gorolová, the social worker and activist whose campaigning helped secure compensation for women subjected to unlawful sterilization.
Milena Grenfell-Baines, one of the children rescued by Nicholas Winton, was honored for preserving and sharing his legacy, particularly with younger generations.
Posthumous recipients were former Senate President Jaroslav Kubera, diplomat Vladimír Vochoč, former Foreign Minister Jiří Dienstbier, historian and diplomat Jaroslav Šedivý, and former senior judge and senator Eliška Wagnerová.
Vochoč helped save thousands from Nazi persecution while serving as a consul in Marseille during World War II, according to the presidential office.
Dienstbier and Šedivý were recognized in part for their role in negotiating the departure of Soviet occupation troops 35 years ago. Wagnerová was remembered as a tireless defender of individual dignity.
Kubera’s widow, Věra Kuberová, accepted his decoration from Pavel. In 2020, she declined to accept an Order of the White Lion that then-President Miloš Zeman had planned to award her husband following his death.
