Set of five silver one-ounce coins Věra Čáslavská with commemorative notes proof

Věra Čáslavská is renowned as the most successful Czech female athlete of all time and as the world’s greatest female athlete. She has also become an icon of courage and resilience. The Czech Mint pays tribute to her with a five-piece set of silver coins.

Věra Čáslavská was an exceptionally strong woman. During her gymnastics career, she won 140 medals - becoming an eleven-time European champion, four-time world champion, and seven-time Olympic champion. She literally dominated the Olympics in Tokyo and Mexico City, and her record for the absolute number of individual gold medals has yet to be surpassed by any Olympic gymnast. Millions of people around the world remember her athletic and moral triumph at the 1968 Games in Mexico, which took place shortly after the invasion of Czechoslovakia by Warsaw Pact troops. At that time, Věra Čáslavská won four gold and two silver medals while courageously expressing her opposition to the occupation of her homeland. When the Soviet anthem played during the medal ceremony, the gymnast turned her head away, proving that an athlete need not be merely a prisoner of their victories. They can also be a person who sets an example and shows the way for everyone else - even at the cost of personal sacrifice…

The reverse sides of the coins, designed by medalist MgA. Martin Dašek, feature a portrait of Věra Čáslavská and the four gymnastics disciplines in which she excelled - the balance beam, uneven bars, vault, and floor exercise. An attractive design element is the Olympic rings, which appear on all five coins. The common obverse side, commemorating Věra Čáslavská’s success at the Tokyo Olympics, is adorned with a flock of origami cranes. Since the Czech Mint’s coins are issued under a foreign license from the island of Niue, the obverse side also bears its national coat of arms, the nominal value of 2 DOLLARS (NZD), and the year of issue 2026.

The set of five-ounce silver coins is issued in a mintage of 300 pieces. An integral part of each set is a commemorative certificate in the form of a banknote produced by the State Printing Office.