Thomas Keller award finalists profiled – Vaclav Chalupa

Chalupa, the big, barrel-chested Czech, best known for his exploits as a single sculler, is described by Olympic medallist Martin Cross as having a dynamic stroke and his chief weapon is his ability to blast out at the start of a race.

In Chalupa’s career he raced at 16 world championships and six Olympic Games nearly all of them in the single. He retired from rowing just short of his 42^nd birthday. Chalupa says his interest in rowing came from his father who raced at the 1960 and 1964 Olympic Games. Chalupa’s dad then became his first coach.

Making the national team for the first time in 1985, Chalupa rowed first under Czechoslovakia and did two Olympics as part of the former nation. His only Olympic medal came in 1992 when he took silver in the single behind the great Thomas Lange who rowed for GDR. Chalupa says it is the medal that he is most proud of in his career.

Chalupa continued through four more Olympics rowing for the now Czech Republic and over the span of his rowing career he never missed a World Championships. He says that any health issues were dealt with during the off season.

Chalupa says his drive to continue rowing during his long career never wavered and missing that elusive gold medal helped bring him back for season after season. “I love the sport, I always had support from friends and family and I always hoped that I would win the gold,” says Chalupa.

Throughout the 1990s and into 2000s Chalupa dominated the single in his home country. But in 2005 he was beaten by Ondrej Synek, 16 years his junior. Chalupa adapted and raced in the quadruple sculls for the next two years. He finished his career at the 2009 World Rowing Championships in the men’s pair and coxed pair. In the very last race of his career, Chalupa won silver in the coxed pair.

Well known in the Czech Republic, Chalupa is seen by director of Czech rowing Premysl Panuska as a “cavalier of the sport,” and on retirement he received many national awards.