Michal Martikán facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Michal Martikán

Martikán in 2019
Personal information
Nationality	Slovak
Born	(1979-05-18) 18 May 1979 (age 45) Liptovský Mikuláš, Czechoslovakia
Height	1.70 m
Weight	72 kg
Sport
Country	Slovakia
Sport	Canoe slalom
Event(s)	C1
Club	KTK Dukla Liptovský Mikuláš
Medal record Men's canoe slalom Event 1st 2nd 3rd Olympic Games 2 2 1 World Championships 15 3 5 European Championships 15 6 3 Junior World Championships 1 2 0 Junior European Championships 3 0 0 Representing  Slovakia Olympic Games Gold 1996 Atlanta C1 Gold 2008 Beijing C1 Silver 2000 Sydney C1 Silver 2004 Athens C1 Bronze 2012 London C1 World Championships Gold 1997 Três Coroas C1 Gold 1997 Três Coroas C1 team Gold 2002 Bourg St.-Maurice C1 Gold 2003 Augsburg C1 Gold 2003 Augsburg C1 team Gold 2007 Foz do Iguaçu C1 Gold 2009 La Seu d'Urgell C1 team Gold 2010 Tacen C1 team Gold 2011 Bratislava C1 team Gold 2013 Prague C1 team Gold 2014 Deep Creek Lake C1 team Gold 2015 London C1 team Gold 2017 Pau C1 team Gold 2018 Rio de Janeiro C1 team Gold 2019 La Seu d'Urgell C1 team Silver 2006 Prague C1 Silver 2009 La Seu d'Urgell C1 Silver 2010 Tacen C1 Bronze 1995 Nottingham C1 Bronze 1995 Nottingham C1 team Bronze 1999 La Seu d'Urgell C1 Bronze 2005 Penrith C1 Bronze 2017 Pau C1 European Championships Gold 1998 Roudnice nad Labem C1 team Gold 2000 Mezzana C1 team Gold 2002 Bratislava C1 team Gold 2005 Tacen C1 team Gold 2007 Liptovský Mikuláš C1 Gold 2007 Liptovský Mikuláš C1 team Gold 2008 Kraków C1 Gold 2008 Kraków C1 team Gold 2009 Nottingham C1 Gold 2010 Bratislava C1 Gold 2010 Bratislava C1 team Gold 2012 Augsburg C1 team Gold 2015 Markkleeberg C1 team Gold 2016 Liptovský Mikuláš C1 team Gold 2021 Ivrea C1 team Silver 1998 Roudnice nad Labem C1 Silver 2006 L'Argentière-la-Bessée C1 Silver 2006 L'Argentière-la-Bessée C1 team Silver 2014 Vienna C1 Silver 2016 Liptovský Mikuláš C1 Silver 2018 Prague C1 team Bronze 2014 Vienna C1 team Bronze 2017 Tacen C1 Bronze 2024 Tacen C1 team Junior World Championships Gold 1994 Wausau C1 Silver 1996 Lipno C1 Silver 1996 Lipno C1 team Junior European Championships Gold 1995 Liptovský Mikuláš C1 Gold 1995 Liptovský Mikuláš C1 team Gold 1997 Nowy Sącz C1

Michal Martikán (Slovak pronunciation: [ˈmixal ˈmartikaːn]; born 18 May 1979) is a Slovak slalom canoeist who has been competing at the international level since 1994. In 1996 he became the first athlete to win an Olympic gold medal for Slovakia since the country gained independence in 1993. In total he won 5 Olympic medals (2 golds, 2 silvers and 1 bronze), which is the most among all slalom paddlers. He has also won the World Championship title in the C1 individual category four times.

Career

At the age of 16, Michal Martikán became the youngest winner of a World Cup slalom canoeing event. Three months later, at age 17, Martikán was in sixth place after the first run of the canoe slalom singles event at the 1996 Olympics. With nothing to lose, he went all out on the second run and just bettered the score of defending champion Lukáš Pollert of the Czech Republic. Martikán was the first Olympic champion to represent independent Slovakia. He entered the 2000 Olympics as the favourite, having consistently finished near the top in every major competition and in each World Cup series. At the Sydney Games, Martikán registered the best score in the qualifying round, but was only in fifth place after the first run of the final. In the second run, he paddled a perfect course and his time was the fastest of the round. He was able to move up to the silver medal position behind Tony Estanguet of France. Competing in his third Olympics in 2004, Martikán again led the qualifying round. He also earned the highest score in the semi-finals, which also served as the first run of the final. After the second run, it appeared that Martikán had regained the Olympic title, but the referees controversially decided to award him a two-second penalty which pushed him to second place, only 12 hundredths of a second behind Estanguet. Martikán regained the Olympic title at the 2008 games in Beijing. At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London Martikán took bronze. Michal Martikán is the only slalom canoeist to win five Olympic medals, one in each of the five games from 1996 through 2012.

At the World Championships, Martikán had an uninterrupted medal run in the individual C1 event between 1995 and 2010. The 2011 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships saw him finish outside the medals for the first time in an Olympic or World Championship individual race in his career. Ironically, this failure came in front of a home crowd on the Čunovo course near Bratislava. However, he managed to win gold in the team event with his Slovak teammates to prolong his medal run. He won another six gold medals in the C1 team event between 2013 and 2019, making it 17 straight World Championships with a medal.

He won his first medals in 1995 when he was just 16. He took a bronze in the C1 event and another bronze in the C1 team event. In 1997 he won his first individual world title as well as team gold. He won the individual C1 event on three more occasions (2002, 2003 and 2007). As of 2019 he has a total of 23 World Championship medals (15 golds, 3 silvers and 5 bronzes) which is more than any other slalom paddler in any category.

He has also won the overall World Cup title five times (1998, 2000, 2001, 2006, 2014), which is a record among C1 paddlers.

At the European Championships he has won four straight individual golds between 2007 and 2010. Slovakia won the C1 team event 11 times with him in the team. He also has 6 silvers (4 individual and 2 in team event) and 3 bronzes (1 individual and 2 in the team event).

Martikán is coached by his father Jozef.

Major championships results timeline

World Cup individual podiums

	01	02	03	Total
C1	20	10	12	42

¹ World Championship counting for World Cup points

² European Championship counting for World Cup points

³ Oceania Championship counting for World Cup points

Awards

• Slovak Sportsperson of the Year: 1996, 1997, 2007, 2008
• Inducted into the Whitewater Hall of Fame: 2010.

Manslaughter conviction

In November 1997 Martikán was involved in a car accident near the village of Velké Zálužie, Slovakia. The car he was driving hit a pedestrian causing him fatal injuries. The investigation concluded that Martikán was traveling substantially over the 40 km/h speed limit. .....

With Martikán facing actual incarceration due to the violation of his probation terms (during his Australia's training camp he should process the license returning, a day after returning home while picking up the letter from the post office about driving license returning, the police surprisingly wait for him outside the building and he got in troubles...), then-president Rudolf Schuster, amid grave criticism, granted Martikán a presidential pardon, which besides sparing him from jail time effectively meant removal of the conviction from his criminal record. Schuster argued that Martikán's positive athletic representation of the country abroad warranted the pardon, while critics pointed to the double standard and the preferential treatment Martikán was receiving as a sport celebrity.

See also

In Spanish: Michal Martikán para niños

• List of multiple Olympic medalists in one event
• List of multiple Summer Olympic medalists