Pavel Ploc

Pavel Ploc is a Czech former ski jumper who competed for Czechoslovakia, winning two Olympic medals. After the end of his ski-jumping career, he entered politics, serving as an MP for the Czech Social Democratic Party from 2006 to 2017.

Sporting career

On 19 March 1983, at the 7th Ski Flying World Championships, he tied the ski jumping world record distance at 181 metres on Čerťák in Harrachov, Czechoslovakia.
At the Winter Olympics, he earned a silver in the individual normal hill in 1988 and a bronze in the individual large hill in 1984. Ploc also earned two bronze medals in the Team large hill event at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships. He also won two medals at the FIS Ski Flying World Championships with a silver in 1983 and a bronze in 1985.

Ploc finished his active ski-jumping career in 1992, and in 1996 opened a bed-and-breakfast in Harrachov, Czech Republic. From 1996 to 2002 he was a member of Harrachov town council. He unsuccessfully ran for a seat in the Czech Parliament in 2002, but in 2006 he was elected as a member of the lower chamber of the Czech Parliament for the Czech Social Democratic Party.
While sitting as an MP, he was elected to the Liberec regional assembly for ČSSD in the 2008 regional elections. He did not stand in the regional elections in 2012. In June 2012, Pavel Ploc and the independent Jaroslav Škárka were the only two MPs who voted against the extradition of David Rath for prosecution.
Ploc ran in the 2016 Senate elections as the ČSSD candidate in District No. 34 - Liberec, finishing 5th with 5.77% of the vote, and failing to advance to the second round. In the 2017 parliamentary elections, he attempted to defend his seat in the Liberec region, but was unsuccessful.