Athletics: 1968 Olympic high jump champion Rezkova dies
She was also European champion for Czechoslovakia in 1969 when she jumped 1.83m in Athens.
PRAGUE (AFP) - Czech high jumper Miloslava Rezkova, who won the 1968 Olympic high jump gold medal, has died at the age of 64 following a long illness, the Czech Athletics Federation (CAS) announced on Monday.
Miloslava (or Milena) Rezkova, caused a major surprise at the Mexico City-hosted Games when she upset with field as an 18-year-old by leaping 1.82m, when at the time her personal best for the season was just 1.66m.
Her greatest triumph which saw her relegate the powerful Soviet jumpers Antonina Okorokova and Valentina Kozyr into the lower medal places, was hailed with great celebration in her homeland, just months after the "Prague Spring" which led to Soviet forces invading the capital of then-Czechoslovakia.
She was also European champion for Czechoslovakia in 1969 when she jumped 1.83m in Athens, before marrying her coach Rudolf Hubner one year later.
Rezkova, also declined a marriage proposal from a Greek millionaire, who offered her an island in the Aegean Sea as a wedding present.
She retired in 1977 when her straddling style of jumping was being gradually replaced by the flop or Fosbury Flop after the American jumper who pioneered the technique.
Dick Fosbury won the 1968 Olympic high jump title for the United States using his technique which was then widely copied by other athletes.
Rezkova remained in the world of athletics working in various roles until the end of her career.
