PRAGUE (AP) — Jiri Raska, the 1968 Olympic ski jumping champion who was named the best Czech skier of the 20th century, died Friday. He was 70.
Hana Szotkowska, a spokeswoman for Novy Jicin Hospital, says Raska died there in the eastern town of Novy Jicin. The cause of death was not given.
Raska became the first Czech to win gold at a Winter Olympics when he won off the middle hill in Grenoble, France.
He also took a silver medal at the same Olympics on the large hill.
In 1969, he set the world record in ski jumping at 164 meters at the flying hill in Planica, then Yugoslavia. He also won the prestigious Four Hill Tour in 1971.
