Oldest Australian Winter Olympian Frank Prihoda leads the second group of Snow Australia Medal recipients

After announcing the first five Snow Australia Medal recipients last week, the next group of recipients made their debut at the Cortina 1956 Olympic Winter Games, all in Alpine Skiing: Tony Aslangul, Frank Prihoda, James Walker and Christine Davy, who becomes the first woman recipient of the Snow Australia Medal.

Australia sent ten athletes in total to the 1956 Cortina Olympics, only the third occasion Australia participated at a Winter Olympics. The Alpine team of five included Snow Australia Medal recipient Bill Day, competing at his second Games after making his debut in Oslo in 1952.

The 1956 Cortina Olympics were marred by a significant lack of snow. When asked about his memories of the event, Frank Prihoda - at 98 years old the oldest Australian Winter Olympian - confessed candidly:

"My special memory of Cortina is that it was hard work, really. Mainly on account of the lack of snow.

"The snow conditions were terrible. A very thin cover, and it made the racing much harder that it would have been otherwise."

The dangerous racing environment meant that most Australian skiers decided to skip the men's Downhill altogether, with then 22-year old Day the only notable exception.

"He was the youngest and strongest skier. He went through with it and he accounted for himself very credibly," Prihoda said.

Day placed 35th in a tough event that saw almost a third of the participants not reach the finish. It was a good display for the two-times Olympian, who had been 61st in the Giant Slalom and had the bad luck to not finish the Slalom. In fact, Prihoda was the only Australian to score a result in the men's Slalom, in which he finished in 54th place.

"I was number 112 and my second run was run close to 4pm: the light wasn't as strong anymore and it was very, very cold. Because of that the course was very icy - it was like an ice-skating rink from top to bottom, especially at the top which was exposed to wind," Prihoda said.

Snow Australia Medal Recipients
	Anthony 'Tony' Aslangul 1923 - 2000 Discipline: Alpine Skiing Olympic participations: Cortina 1956 Medal awarded in: 20202			Christine Davy MBE 1934 -  Discipline: Alpine Skiing Olympic participations: Cortina 1956, Squaw Valley 1960 Medal awarded in: 2020
	Frank Prihoda 1921 -  Discipline: Alpine Skiing Olympic participations: Cortina 1956 Medal awarded in: 2020			James Walker 1926 - 1996 Discipline: Alpine Skiing Olympic participations: Cortina 1956 Medal awarded in: 2020

Competition aside, the Cortina 1956 Olympic Winter Games are also remembered for their relaxed atmosphere. By then the world had enjoyed a few years of peaceful conditions after the horrors of World War II. Prihoda confirmed:

"The atmosphere was sort of friendly, jubilating and ‘enjoy life’. Life had changed by 1956."

Prihoda had fled his home in Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic) just seven years before representing Australia at the 1956 Olympics. He decided to escape with his brother-in-law Karel Nekvapil when a Communist government was established in Czechoslovakia following the 'Putsch', the coup d'etat which in 1948 had overthrown the balance of power in the country. At the time the Prihoda family were running an artificial-flowers manufacturing and wholesaling business out of Prague. Prihoda explained:

"By virtue of my father being an employer and me being an employer, I was considered bourgeois, and on account of that I was considered an enemy of people.

"There was no future for me in Czechoslovakia, then. The business was of no national significance and it was practically nationalised. Completely taken away."

Frank decided it was time for him to leave the country, and so did his sister, Sasha Nekvapil. Sasha was a fellow Olympic Alpine skier who was competing internationally with the Czechoslovakian team at the time and had planned not to return home with her teammates. While Sasha could leverage the advantage of international travel, the only way for Frank and Karel to leave was to flee undetected, and so they did. Prihoda remembered first studying a feasible route to cross into neighbouring Austria and then escaping on cross-country skis in early January 1949.

"We pretended we were on a Cross-Country skiing trip, just going for a run.

"With that opportunity we crossed a lake, which was frozen. On one side of the lake was Czechoslovakia and on the other side was Austria. So it was comparatively easy and we were lucky there was no guard making the rounds, which would have been very bad. It all went well."

Prihoda and his brother-in-law had a Czech connection in Austria, who accommodated them for the night and  took them to the Railway Station the following day. During the process, the two fugitives  were recognised as non-locals and taken in by Police for questioning. It took a bribe, the help of a distant Aunt and false Austrian identity documents, provided by one of the United States counterintelligence units, to get them to Innsbruck, where they reported to the local authorities. When they finally had an audience with the Police Commander, luck was once again on their side.

"He had a Czechoslovakian wife, so he was very friendly to the Czechs. He had to be, otherwise his wife would have raised hell at home!" Prihoda joked.

Frank and Karel obtained new papers and moved on to reach the Austrian ski-resort of St Anton, where they were joined by Sasha and spent the rest of the Winter season. Then they were on the move again, this time to Belgium, where Karel had family. They settled there for a while and found jobs - or as Frank put it, he 'freelanced' for a while, washing dishes and doing whatever he could find.

One Sunday the group saw a big article in the London Times, a big spread aimed at encouraging people to migrate to Australia for work.

"Australia was one of the few countries which was taking migrants. The world was not open to us at all," Frank said.

In fact, Canada and Australia were possibly the only two countries accepting migrants at the time. Quickly, a decision was made.

"Canada is too cold, so we go to Australia!"

Frank, Sasha and Karel chose Melbourne as their Australian destination, based on the idea that its weather resembles more closely the European pattern of four seasons.

"I told people from Melbourne about it, and they said - Yes, but all in one day! And that was the simple reason why we moved to Australia," Frank explained.

Frank and his family joined some good friends who had already migrated to Australia and quickly integrated in the strong Czech community in Victoria. Sasha and Karel went to Mt Buller during their first Australian Winter and started a ski school there. That's how Frank got into ski racing, became a Winter Olympian and then got into sport administration, serving roles in the Victorian Ski Association and then the Victorian Olympic Council. One could never get tired of listening to Frank's stories.

"But it then becomes a book," he joked.

From his home in Thredbo, Frank Prihoda welcomed the news that the 1956 Winter Olympians'  contributions to Australian ski history was being recognised by Snow Australia. He was honoured to accept his Snow Australia Medal.

"I shall be proud of it," he said.

Read Medallist Biographies Here