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"Vera was a fighter. She was diagnosed last year in the
spring... When she did not come with us to (the Olympic Games
this summer in) Rio it was clear the situation was bad,"
committee President Jiri Kejval said by telephone.
"She died in her sleep," he said.
Caslavska's medals included golds in the individual all-round
gymnastics in the 1964 and 1968 games. Larisa Latynina is the
only other female athlete to win back-to-back gold medals in
that event. She won gold in 1956 and 1960 for the Soviet Union.
Caslavska was a vocal critic of the Soviet Union's 1968 invasion
of what was then Czechoslovakia and did not compete in the
Olympics after that year's games after refusing to withdraw her
signature on the "Manifesto of 2000 Words", which rejected
Soviet involvement in the country.
(Reporting by Jan Lopatka; Writing by Jason Hovet; Editing by
Louise Ireland)
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