Josef
Rössler-Ořovský (Roessler)
Male
Czechoslovakia
1869-06-30
Praha (Prague), Czechoslovakia
1933-01-17
Praha (Prague), Czech Republic
The following information was translated and adapted from the Czech Wikipedia entry on Josef Rössler-Ořovský:
Josef Rössler-Ořovský is still one of the biggest figures in Czech sports. He is credited with introducing a number of sports in the Czech lands. He cooperated in establishing numerous sports clubs and sports associations. He was above all an excellent rower, but he was also active in speed skating, ice hockey, tennis, yachting, athletics, football and canoeing.
He was also an excellent diplomat (he spoke several languages) and mainly thanks to his efforts (along with Jiří Guth-Jarkovský), Czech athletes participated in the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm as an independent country. In 1881, at the age of 12, he co-founded a Skating Club together with his classmates. On March 13, 1887, he organized one of the first ever athletic competitions. As a student, however, sports were prohibited, so he created the pseudonym Ořovský. Rössl is a German horse.
On November 21, 1887, he founded a skiing club. It was the first skiing club in Europe outside Scandinavia. In 1893, he helped to found the First Czech Lawn Tennis Club and the Czech Yacht Club. In 1895, he married Emília Hořínková. On March 29, 1896, he was in charge of the first Sparta versus Slavia derby, for which he also translated the original football rules.
In the years 1896 to 1897, he collaborated with Dr Jiří Guth regarding the possibility of founding the Czech Olympic Committee (COC). They were not yet able to do so, but they were successful in establishing the Czech Amateur Athletic Union (CAAU). The Austrian authorities gave them permission on May 8, 1897. Its first chairman was Dr Guth, the second Rössler-Ořovský.
Two years later, the two men managed to convene a meeting through the CAAU and found the Czech Olympic Committee. At first it didn’t meet much, so they founded it again in January 1900. The WWTP then secured independent Czech representation at several Olympic Games even in the period before the establishment of the Czechoslovak Republic. The CAAU created several branches and sections, which gradually became independent.
On November 21, 1903, the Skiers’ Association of the Kingdom of Bohemia was founded on his initiative. It was the first ever skiing association in the world. In 1906, the Czech Lawn Tennis Association was formed, in 1908 the Czech Hockey Association, in 1910 the Central Athletics Association and in 1913 the Czech Fencing Association. In 1908, another body was established, the Czech Sports Council.
Following the example of the sea scouts he met in Stockholm, Rössler-Ořovský founded the first Czech sea scout troop in Prague and thus laid the foundation for Czech sea scouting. Between 1908 and 1912, he contributed to the promotion and introduction of Canadian canoes in Bohemia, thereby laying the foundation for the development of water tourism. In 1913, he co-founded the Union of Canoeists of the Kingdom of Bohemia.
In 1917, Rössler-Ořovský was elected head of Junák, a Czech scouting organisation. He later served as deputy head of the Czech Scout Association and represented Czech scouting abroad. Amongst other things, as a member if the International Scout Committee, he pushed for the dates of world jamborees to be moved so that they did not conflict with the Olympics Games. In 1930, he was awarded the highest scouting award, the Order of the Silver Wolf.
In October 1918, when the republic was established, he organized and managed the Scout Post, which provided a courier service between the emerging state authorities. He had conceived the idea even before an independent state was established. He was also a passionate philatelist and a member of the oldest Czech philatelic club, which was founded in 1887 as the Czech Philatelist Club. He died at the age of 63 and is buried in the Vyšehrad Cemetery in Prague.
1896 - 1908
0
2
0
Round 1
James Cecil Parke 1 *
Josef Rössler-Ořovský (Roessler)
w.o.
Round 1
R. Rudolf 1 *
Josef Rössler-Ořovský (Roessler)
w.o.