Vera Cerna (CSSR)
1979 World B Champion
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Medal Total
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Vera was born on May 17, 1963, in Brno (Czech Republic) and won the beam title at the 1979 World Championships. When she was 6, she was selected to train in rhythmic gymnastics, but by age 8 she had convinced coaches to let her switch to sports gymnastics. It was a good decision, because by age 11 she was good enough to join the junior national team. That same year, she competed in her first international meet, in a dual with Hungary.
At an Olympic training camp in Nymburk, Vera sustained a serious injury - she cracked her 3rd lumbar vertebra and 2 discs - just weeks before the Moscow Games. She spent the next two months in a hospital in Brno. Vera graduated from Brno University of Technology and worked with the Brno police department as a dispatcher for several years. Twice married and divorced, and the mother of three (twin daughters Kristina and Lucie, and son Daniel), she was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2003 and underwent surgery
that left her partially paralyzed. Her condition has improved with
rehabilitation although she still has difficulty walking and cannot see out of
one eye. Vera still lives in Brno and recently became a grandmother.
Competition Results
