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Olga Connolly, Olympic Gold Medalist passed away on April 12, 2024.<\/p>\n
By Mark Connolly, Merja Connolly, Jim Connolly, Nina Connolly<\/p>\n
Olga Fikotova Connolly, November 13, 1932-April 12, 2024
\nApril 12, 2024, marked the passing of the last living Olympic Champion from the
\nMelbourne 1956 Olympics. Olga Fikotova Connolly passed away at 91 years old. Olga is
\nmost known for her athletic accomplishments as a five time Olympian and Gold Medalist in
\nthe Women\u2019s discus throw. She competed in Melbourne in 1956 winning the competition
\nfor her homeland Czechoslovakia and then competing in four more Olympic Games for the
\nUnited States as an American citizen. In the 1972 Munich Olympics her USA teammates
\nhonored her with the nomination to carry the delegation flag, which she stated was one of
\nher most proud moments. Olga is likely the only Olympian ever to win a Gold Medal for one
\ncountry and subsequently carry the flag in an Olympic opening ceremony for another.
\nShe grew up in Prague, Czechoslovakia through a very difficult part of history. Her father,
\nFranticek Fikota worked as the personal guard to President Masaryk, the first Czech
\nPresident elected by the people, known as \u201cThe People\u2019s President\u201d. Her childhood was
\ntough as her father was arrested as a political prisoner and her family kicked out of the city.
\nThe Cold War years and all its cruelty and injustice only made Olga tougher and a lifelong
\nadvocate for peace from a young age. She developed a courageous voice for social justice
\nand a strong anti-war stance as a public speaker and author.
\nGrowing up she was a talented multi-sport athlete playing soccer, basketball, hockey, and
\nteam handball. She was competitive, strong, fast, and loved the comradery of athletics. Olga
\nstarted University, attending Charles University Medical School already an accomplished
\nathlete. She represented the National Team in European Team Handball as goalie and
\nplayed center on the National Basketball team until it conflicted with her studies and work
\nin hospitals. She was introduced to the discus by a boyfriend she was dating and
\nimmediately loved the individual event and the energy of track and field. Her talent and
\npassion were easy to spot and quickly she was encouraged and inspired by the Russian
\nDiscus Champion Nina Ponomaryova and future teammates Dana and Emil Zatopek. Within
\ntwo years of starting to throw the discus, she made the 1956 Olympic team and went to her
\nfirst Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia. Olga loved representing her country and her
\npeople. This journey to Australia was the longest expedition athletes from then a
\ncommunist block\u2019s nation undertook at the height of the Cold War. The team consisted of
\n63 competitors, 51 men and 12 women. It was there that her life changed forever as she
\nboth won her event, and met an American hammer thrower, Harold Connolly.
\nAt the age of 24, in 1957 Olga married Harold Connolly, and came to Boston,
\nMassachusetts. She eventually settled in Culver City, California raising four children, Mark,
\nJim, Merja and Nina. She was never granted permission to return or compete again for her
\nbeloved Czechoslovakia and therefore trained and competed for the United States in her<\/p>\n
next four Olympics, while raising her children. Upon her arrival she wasn\u2019t well received
\nby many in the United States due to the politics of communism, but she rose above the
\nprejudice for the love of the Country and worked hard on her English speaking and
\nwriting. Olga became the Director of Intramural Sports and the Director of the Study Skills
\nCenter at Loyola Marymount University 1971-1980. In 1972 Olga ran and was elected to
\nthe Culver City School Board of Education. She was a big supporter of the Culver City Parks
\nand Recreation Programs and worked hard to improve Physical Education in Schools. Of
\ncourse, her priority were her kids and Olga would spend hours cooking nutritious foods,
\nCzech casseroles, stews, protein powder pancakes and delicious pastries and cookies. All
\nthe local kids knew where to go when hungry-they would gather at the Connolly\u2019s for food
\nand goodies. During the Christmas and Easter holidays she would stay up well into the
\nnight baking hundreds of Czech holiday cookies to give to the people in her life who were
\nher friends and neighbors and to celebrate the season with her 4 very hungry athletic
\nchildren.
\nThroughout her life Olga dedicated her time and knowledge to promotion of literacy and
\nphysical fitness. In the Summer of 1979, she Directed an educational camp for inner-city
\nteenagers from Oakland and San Francisco, The \u201cUnions for Youth\u201d Vocational Exploration
\nCamps of the National Football League\u2019s Players\u2019 Association. She then became the
\nDirector of the Literacy Program at the Toberman Settlement House in San Pedro for six
\nyears supervising pre-school and senior programs until state budget cuts ended the
\nprogram. Olga found work at the Boys and Girls Club of Moorepark as the Activities
\nDirector to make ends meet until she became the Program Development Coordinator with
\nthe Los Angeles, California Conservation Corps. Olga loved working with young adults to
\nempower them, to improve their education and become confident in their abilities. When
\nworking at the CCC she designed a computer lab program that collaborated with the
\nUniversity of Southern California\u2019s resources. Olga inspired and trained current CCC
\nleaders and continued to be very proud of their service today.
\nOlga worked her next eight years as a Fitness Specialist at the University of California,
\nIrvine, Anteater Recreation Center. She loved being a personal trainer and running the
\n\u201cFitness in the Park\u201d program for Faculty and Staff. She also served as a volunteer coach at
\nOrange Coast College for the throwers before moving to Las Vegas for five years. Now
\nworking at Durango EOS Gym, Olga at the age of 86 earned her certification as an
\nInternational Corrective Exercise Specialist with ISSA. She spent hours, day and night
\nworking to pass this highly skilled, international course and did it with flying colors.
\nThroughout her life, Olga also loved working part time as a writer. She wrote about fitness
\nas well as the Olympic Ideals taught by Pierre De Coubertin: that \u201cSport and the Olympics
\nshould be used to promote the development of physical and mental fitness; and about the
\nimportance of playing sport in order to educate young people in a spirit of mutual
\nunderstanding and friendship; and also, to build a more peaceful world and a sense of
\ninternational goodwill\u201d. She is the author of three published books, including her early
\nautobiography, \u201cThe Rings of Destiny\u201d and many articles for the LA Times, Sports
\nIllustrated, Evening Outlook, Daily Breeze, Life, and Lower Extremities Magazine (LER).<\/p>\n
When living in Costa Mesa, Ca. Olga found time to volunteer as a nature guide for kids at the
\nBolsa Chica Nature Center in Huntington Beach. She was passionate about nature and one
\nfun personal hobby she enjoyed was tracking the International Space Station, sometimes
\ndriving to the desert or to the ocean at night to view it without the city lights.
\nOlga served as a member of Los Angeles Mayor Bradley\u2019s Advisory Committee for Cultural
\nAffairs; California State Athletic Commission and received numerous awards, among them
\nthe high valued Fair Play Award from the Czech Chapter, European Fair Play Movement,
\nand the Pacesetter Award from the Academic and Professional Women, University of
\nCalifornia at Irvine. In 2006, she was invited back to Prague, to the 50th Reunion of the
\n1956 Olympic team. She was finally embraced and able to speak her truth, her love of
\ncountry and to explain that she always wanted to return to represent her homeland, like
\npro athletes in America commonly do today. She healed relationships and celebrated with
\nher teammates, friends, and country again and it meant everything to her. In October 2023
\nand January 2024, Olga had another big reunion with the Czech Consulate General in Los
\nAngeles and with the Czech Arts and Sciences Society, where she was invited to speak and
\nshare her experiences in her beautiful Czech language and in English. Olga, we will miss
\nyou. Your contributions to making the world around you a more educated, healthy, peaceful
\nand compassionate place will always be remembered. Thank you for your courage, humor,
\nadvocacy, caring and inspiration. Olga is survived by her four children, Mark, Jim, Merja and
\nNina and grandchildren Van Freund, Denali and Cianni Connolly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Olga Connolly, Olympic Gold Medalist passed away on April 12, 2024. By Mark Connolly, Merja Connolly, Jim Connolly, Nina Connolly Olga Fikotova Connolly, November 13, 1932-April 12, 2024 April 12, 2024, marked the passing of the last living Olympic Champion Read More …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[16],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.svu2000.org\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/890"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.svu2000.org\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.svu2000.org\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.svu2000.org\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.svu2000.org\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=890"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.svu2000.org\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/890\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":892,"href":"https:\/\/www.svu2000.org\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/890\/revisions\/892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.svu2000.org\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.svu2000.org\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.svu2000.org\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}