Place of residence: Prague, Czech Republic
Coach: Rudolf Černý
Špotáková is the current Olympic champion, as well as the world record holder in the women’s Javelin throw.
She graduated in May 2009 at the University of Agriculture in Prague, as an ecology engineer.
She started athletics in the fifth grade under the guidance of her mother Ludmila. Both her father and brother are athletics fans and fully support her.
As a junior Špotáková competed in Heptathlon. In 2000 she finished fourth at the World Junior Championships in Santiago de Chile (won by Carolina Klüft).
After the European Championship in Munich she spent five weeks in a training camp in South Africa and learned a lot from the legendary Jan Železný.
In autumn 2003 she underwent a surgery in which a beginning tumour of the tibia has been removed.
Her first major medal came in 2006 when she finished 2nd at the European Championships in Gothenburg followed by a victory at the World Athletics Final.
2007 and 2008 were absolutely superb for her including the world title, a world record, the Olympic title and several other successes.
She participated at the event in which former Czech president Vaclav Havel and a group of other famous names got together to encourage parents to read to their children for at least twenty minutes a day.
"Parents should read to their children, because children retain such happy memories from these moments. For me, it was very important that my parents read to me, and in this hectic age, I think it is even more important for children."
Špotáková is known to like beer. “Since I was small I like the taste of beer. Every time my dad had a beer at home I like to sip a little,” she said. She and her partner have been given free beer for the past two years at her favourite drinking venue in central Prague.