Ondrej Nepela

Ondrej Nepela was a Slovak figure skater who represented Czechoslovakia. Born in Bratislava in 1951, he trained at the Slovan Bratislava club and became interested in skating at the age of seven after watching the 1958 European Championships on television. He competed at his first Olympics in 1964 at the age of 13 and won the men's gold medal at the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo, becoming one of the youngest male Olympic champions in figure skating. He was also a three-time World champion from 1971 to 1973 and a five-time European champion from 1969 to 1973. Later in his career he performed professionally and became a coach. He died in 1989.