Explaining the Czech Republic's gesture at the Opening Ceremony
The Czech Republic team wanted to honor one of its Olympic pioneers during the Opening Ceremony for the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang.
As the team entered, it (attempted) to jump forward in a split-squat-type stance in unison. As you can see, the choreography wasn’t exactly on point. But you get the idea.
And no, North Americans, they were not mimicking taking a knee in reference to the anthem protests in the NFL and other sports.
According to this Czech site, the gesture was in tribute of ski jumper Jiri Raska, who won a gold medal in the normal hill ski jump event in the 1968 Winter Olympics and a silver in the large hill event. His gold medal was the first for the country in the Winter Olympics and, as you probably realize, it’s been 50 years since that gold medal.
In case you needed a reference point for what a ski jump landing looks like, here’s one below.
Raska died in 2012. The Czech Republic won eight medals overall, including two golds in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
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Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
