CZECHOSLOVAKIA EURO CUP
Brno, October 14-15, 1989
by Jem Cloot
Czechoslovakia is a country of diverse and
confusing paradoxes. Money is scarce (except
to a privileged few) and the pursuit of pleasure
is a strictly limited activity. Skating is so new
and different, the oppressive authorities can't
decide if it's subversive, so they haven't banned
it yet. Most people who encounter skaters in the
street are bewildered by what they see and
leave them alone-a peculiar kind of freedom
in a country where you're not even allowed to
leave when you want.
Brno is right in the middle of Czechoslovakia
and remains a strangely barren monument to
the past greatness of Central Europe-a weird.
and wonderful forum for a major international
skate comp. Hard currency talks here, and we
decadent Westerners found ourselves suddenly
rich, thanks to the wildly inflated black market.
Food and beer are incredibly cheap and, in fact,
the beer companies are the only people who
sponsor skaters there.
The comp itself was less of a multi-media blitz
than last year's Prague deal, but the Czechs
are still new enough to skating that everyone
is stoked about everything-a hot slalom run
gets as many cheers as a six-foot airwalk and
no one really cares whether you're famous or
not. A multinational cast had assembled to con-
test slalom, streetstyle, freestyle and ramp and,
with no money at stake, the action was purely
in the name of fun (with a teensy bit of ego
thrown in here and there).
In true Czech style, the ramp and the street
features were all made of heavily welded in-
dustrial grade steel and took a lot of punish-
ment. Crowd-pleasing maneuvers of the day
were Nicky (Guerrero) ollieing the entire fun-
box from the take-off ramp and local boy Karel
Houdek making consistent back-to-back inverts
on the ramp. Martin Kopecky, Czechoslovakia's
Mr. Skating, took over the mike and politely
yelled, "All skaters-be radical!"
Slalom seemed over almost before it began,
but the head-to-head was hot with only 12 hun-
dredths of a second separating the top four.
Freestyle was a very Eastern Bloc affair with
Bulgaria and Czechoslovakia taking three of the
top six places. These guys learn just about
everything from six-month-old magazines, hear-
say and a few jaunts westward-their dedica-
tion is supreme.
The ramp jam was saved until last and they
even got the TV. cameras out for the finals. The
skaters in this eight-man jam had the blue
monster well wired when the time came. As
finals go, no one was really surprised when
Nicky powered onto first, although some said
maybe Bod should have topped him with his
variety and sheer determination. To drop-in to
a new trick on the last run of the final takes balls
and Bod's front truck grind over the channel
was just that. Whatever the arguments, the fact
that this was Czechoslovakia and the comp was
happening was reward enough and who-got-
what was not so important. ■
56
SLALOM
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1. Paolo Gatti
2. Massimilano Caposio
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FREESTYLE
Expatriot Yankee Steve Claar floats a fake in pre-
democratized Czechoslovakia. Photo: Jem Cloot.
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57