Michal Martikán Explained

Michal Martikán
Nationality:Slovak
Birth Date:18 May 1979
Birth Place:Liptovský Mikuláš, Czechoslovakia
Height:1.70 m
Weight:72 kg
Country:Slovakia
Sport:Canoe slalom
Event:C1
Club:KTK Dukla Liptovský Mikuláš
Show-Medals:no

Michal Martikán (in Slovak pronounced as /ˈmixal ˈmartikaːn/; born 18 May 1979) is a Slovak slalom canoeist who has been competing at the international level since 1994.[1] In 1996 he became the first athlete to win an Olympic gold medal for Slovakia since the country gained independence in 1993.[2] In total he won 5 Olympic medals (2 golds, 2 silvers and 1 bronze), which is the most among all slalom paddlers.[3] He has also won the World Championship title in the C1 individual category four times.

Career

At the age of 16, Michal Martikán became the youngest winner of a World Cup slalom canoeing event.[4] Three months later, at age 17, Martikán was in sixth place after the first run of the canoe slalom singles event at the 1996 Olympics. With nothing to lose, he went all out on the second run and just bettered the score of defending champion Lukáš Pollert of the Czech Republic. Martikán was the first Olympic champion to represent independent Slovakia. He entered the 2000 Olympics as the favourite, having consistently finished near the top in every major competition and in each World Cup series. At the Sydney Games, Martikán registered the best score in the qualifying round, but was only in fifth place after the first run of the final. In the second run, he paddled a perfect course and his time was the fastest of the round. He was able to move up to the silver medal position behind Tony Estanguet of France. Competing in his third Olympics in 2004, Martikán again led the qualifying round. He also earned the highest score in the semi-finals, which also served as the first run of the final. After the second run, it appeared that Martikán had regained the Olympic title, but the referees controversially decided to award him a two-second penalty which pushed him to second place, only 12 hundredths of a second behind Estanguet. Martikán regained the Olympic title at the 2008 games in Beijing.[5] At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London Martikán took bronze. Michal Martikán is the only slalom canoeist to win five Olympic medals, one in each of the five games from 1996 through 2012.

At the World Championships, Martikán had an uninterrupted medal run in the individual C1 event between 1995 and 2010. The 2011 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships saw him finish outside the medals for the first time in an Olympic or World Championship individual race in his career. Ironically, this failure came in front of a home crowd on the Čunovo course near Bratislava. However, he managed to win gold in the team event with his Slovak teammates to prolong his medal run. He won another six gold medals in the C1 team event between 2013 and 2019, making it 17 straight World Championships with a medal.

He won his first medals in 1995 when he was just 16. He took a bronze in the C1 event and another bronze in the C1 team event. In 1997 he won his first individual world title as well as team gold. He won the individual C1 event on three more occasions (2002, 2003 and 2007). As of 2019 he has a total of 23 World Championship medals (15 golds, 3 silvers and 5 bronzes) which is more than any other slalom paddler in any category.

He has also won the overall World Cup title five times (1998, 2000, 2001, 2006, 2014), which is a record among C1 paddlers.

At the European Championships he has won four straight individual golds between 2007 and 2010. Slovakia won the C1 team event 11 times with him in the team. He also has 6 silvers (4 individual and 2 in team event) and 3 bronzes (1 individual and 2 in the team event).

Martikán is coached by his father Jozef.[6]

Major championships results timeline

Event19951996199719981999200020012002200320042005200620072008
Olympic GamesC1Not held1Not held2Not held2Not held1
World ChampionshipsC13Not held1Not held3Not held11Not held321Not held
C1 team3Not held1Not held6Not held41Not held49Not held
European ChampionshipsC1Not held5Not held2Not held4Not held5Not held5211
C1 teamNot held6Not held1Not held1Not held1Not held1211
Event2009201020112012201320142015201620172018201920202021202220232024
Olympic GamesC1Not held3Not heldNot heldNot held
World ChampionshipsC1227Not held181210Not held3629Not heldNot held
C1 team111Not held111Not held111Not heldNot held
European ChampionshipsC111258218232011715
C1 team814131162413

World Cup individual podiums

Total
C1 20 10 12 42
SeasonDateVenuePositionEvent
1995 2 July 1995 bgcolor=silver2nd C1
1996 21 April 1996 bgcolor=gold1st C1
16 June 1996 3rd C1
1997 6 July 1997 bgcolor=gold1st C1
1998 21 June 1998 bgcolor=gold1st C1
28 June 1998 3rd C1
13 September 1998 bgcolor=gold1st C1
1999 15 August 1999 3rd C1
22 August 1999 bgcolor=gold1st C1
3 October 1999 bgcolor=silver2nd C1
2000 30 April 2000 bgcolor=gold1st C1
9 July 2000 bgcolor=gold1st C1
30 July 2000 bgcolor=silver2nd C1
2001 10 June 2001 bgcolor=gold1st C1
29 July 2001 3rd C1
9 September 2001 bgcolor=gold1st C1
2002 21 July 2002 3rd C1
28 July 2002 bgcolor=gold1st C1
2003 11 May 2003 3rd C1
6 July 2003 bgcolor=gold1st C1
3 August 2003 bgcolor=silver2nd C1
2004 23 April 2004 bgcolor=silver2nd C1
11 July 2004 3rd C1
25 July 2004 3rd C1
2005 1 October 2005 3rd C11
2006 28 May 2006 bgcolor=gold1st C1
4 June 2006 bgcolor=silver2nd C1
11 June 2006 3rd C1
2 July 2006 bgcolor=silver2nd C12
6 August 2006 bgcolor=silver2nd C11
2007 30 June 2007 bgcolor=silver2nd C1
8 July 2007 bgcolor=gold1st C1
2008 16 March 2008 bgcolor=gold1st C13
2009 5 July 2009 bgcolor=gold1st C1
2011 9 July 2011 bgcolor=gold1st C1
2013 24 August 2013 bgcolor=gold1st C1
2014 7 June 2014 3rd C1
14 June 2014 bgcolor=silver2nd C1
21 June 2014 bgcolor=gold1st C1
2 August 2014 3rd C1
2015 4 July 2015 bgcolor=gold1st C1
2017 2 July 2017 bgcolor=gold1st C1

1 World Championship counting for World Cup points

2 European Championship counting for World Cup points

3 Oceania Championship counting for World Cup points

Awards

1996, 1997, 2007, 2008

Manslaughter conviction

In November 1997 Martikán was involved in a car accident near the village of Velké Zálužie, Slovakia.[7] The car he was driving hit a pedestrian causing him fatal injuries. The investigation concluded that Martikán was traveling substantially over the 40 km/h speed limit. It was also found that the killed man was highly intoxicated at the time of the accident, in dark outside the inhabited area.

With Martikán facing actual incarceration due to the violation of his probation terms (during his Australia's training camp he should process the license returning, a day after returning home while picking up the letter from the post office about driving license returning, the police surprisingly wait for him outside the building and he got in troubles...), then-president Rudolf Schuster, amid grave criticism, granted Martikán a presidential pardon,[8] which besides sparing him from jail time effectively meant removal of the conviction from his criminal record. Schuster argued that Martikán's positive athletic representation of the country abroad warranted the pardon, while critics pointed to the double standard and the preferential treatment Martikán was receiving as a sport celebrity.

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Michal MARTIKAN (SVK). CanoeSlalom.net. 30 September 2017.
  2. Web site: FACTBOX-Olympics-Canoeing-Gold medallist Michal Martikan . Reuters . 17 August 2021.
  3. Web site: Michal Martikán. https://web.archive.org/web/20200417112610/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ma/michal-martikan-1.html. dead. 17 April 2020. Sports-Reference.com. 3 December 2017.
  4. http://in.reuters.com/article/idINIndia-34975920080812 "Seeing is believing for Slovakia's Martikan"
  5. Web site: GB's Florence claims canoe silver . 13 August 2008. BBC Sport. 12 August 2008 .
  6. Web site: Michal Martikán (SVK). CanoeICF.com. 31 December 2017.
  7. Web site: Olympic winner kills a pedestrian . 17 August 2008 . 4 December 1997 . The Slovak Spectator .
  8. Web site: Amnesties a relic of feudal powers . 17 August 2008 . 29 January 2001 . The Slovak Spectator .