 A natural athlete, she represented Czechoslovakia in basketball and handball before switching to discus throw in 1954.Two years later, she was still a medical student at the Charles University in Prague when she competed for Czechoslovakia in the 1956 Summer Olympics held in Melbourne, Australia in the Discus.The 24-year-old became Czechoslovakia's only gold medalist at the Olympics when she won the event with a throw of 53.69 m ahead of Soviet pair Irina Beglyakova (52.54 m) and Nina Ponomaryova (52.02 m).