On 28 October 2026 President Petr Pavel awarded the Medal of Merit to sport shooter Kateřina Emmons at Prague Castle.
On 28 October 2026, at a ceremony at Prague Castle on the occasion of the state holiday, President Petr Pavel awarded the Medal of Merit to sport shooter Kateřina Emmons, née Kůrková. The shooter was born in 1983 in Plzeň and is one of 51 people honoured this year.[1][2]
Emmons is an Olympic champion and a world and European champion and, according to both sources, the most successful shooter in Czech Olympic history. At the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens she won bronze in the 10-metre air rifle event. In Beijing in 2008 she won the same event and a few days later took silver in the 3×20-shot small-bore rifle event. In the air rifle qualification she reached the maximum score of 400 points and with a total of 503.5 points set an Olympic record. At the 2012 Games in London she finished fourth in air rifle. She ended her sporting career in 2015. She competed for the Plzeň club Rapid Plzeň.[1][2]
According to Deník, the Medal of Merit was also received by other figures connected with Plzeň and western Bohemia, among them playwright and director Ladislav Smoček, actor and playwright Arnošt Goldflam and businessman Tomáš Karpíšek.[1]
Chronology
- — President Petr Pavel awarded the Medal for Merit at Prague Castle on the occasion of the state holiday to sport shooter Kateřina Emmons, a native of Plzeň and Olympic champion. Deník: Plzeňský kraj Plzeňská Drbna
Sources
- Deník: Plzeňský kraj
- Plzeňská Drbna — 28 October 2026