Ladislav Pataki

Infobox athlete biography
athletename = Ladislav Pataki


fullname =
dateofbirth = June 20, 1946
cityofbirth = Nové Zámky
countryofbirth = Czechoslovakia
dateofdeath = April 5, 2007
cityofdeath = San Jose, California
countryofdeath = United States
current position =
current team =
years with team =
specialty = shot put, discus
previous teams = Czechoslovak National Team
years as player =
championships as player =
years as coach = 1973–1976
championships as coach =
height =
weight =
personalbest = Masters Track and Field
Outdoor Weight Pentathlon: 5366 points
(Masters World Record July 12, 2001)
Discus: 52.68 meters (1st place)
Shot put: 15.85 meters (1st place)
(Masters World Championship
Brisbane, Australia, July 6-12, 2001)
Indoor Shot put: 16.04 meters
(Masters World Record February 17, 1998
Silver State Indoor Masters Classic, Reno, Nevada)
career = Junior: –1964; Masters: c. 1997 – c. 2003
updated = April 13, 2007

Ladislav Pataki (June 20, 1946–April 5, 2007) was an American coach, sports scientist, and masters track and field thrower. He defected from Czechoslovakia in 1985 with his wife and daughter, settling in Los Gatos, California. He influenced the training of several world-class athletes living in the South Bay Area, where he continued his sports science career and developed nutritional supplements. As a masters competitor in track and field, he won several world championships and set world records in shot put and discus. [ [http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/u/united_states_olympic_committee/index.html?query=PATAKI,%20LADISLAV&field=per&match=exact Robert McG. Thomas Jr., "New York Times," "SPORTS WORLD SPECIALS; Imagery in Motion:] When Ladislav Pataki sneaked out of a Rome hotel with his wife and daughter last July and sought asylum at the United States Embassy, the move boded well for American athletics. Pataki, a former discus and hammer-throw coach who, as a biomechanical specialist, had been coordinator of a Czechoslovak training-research project, was the highest-ranking Soviet-bloc sports scientist ever to defect to the West." June 23, 1986, accessed April 11, 2007]

He had surgery for brain cancer in the Czech Republic in 2006, after declining chemotherapy. When the tumor could not be completely removed, he entered an assisted living residence in San Jose, California. [ [http://www.mercurynews.com/search/ci_5216700 Elliott Almond, "San Jose Mercury News," "Ladislav Pataki has brain cancer: A Valley Fixture Since Defection," February 13, 2007] , accessed April 11] , 2007] He died at age 60.

Early life and education

Pataki grew up in Nové Zámky, in the former Soviet-bloc state of Czechoslovakia. [ [http://www.mercurynews.com/search/ci_5635404 Elliott Almond, "San Jose Mercury News," "Renowned throwing specialist Pataki to be memorialized," April 10, 2007] , accessed April 11, 2007] Nové Zámky is located in the Nitra Region in the southwest of modern Slovakia. According to his resumes, Pataki was the 1964 Czechoslovak Junior Champion and record holder in shot put. After competing in sports internationally as a youth, he earned two Doctorate of Research degrees from Bratislava Komenski University, with a 1971 thesis in kinesiology and a 1977 thesis in sport science. [ [http://www.powerlean.com/Brochures/DrPataki.html "Who is Ladislav Pataki?"] (resume with links to a longer autobiography), accessed April 12, 2007]

Sports science career

After completing his first doctorate, he started his career in 1972 as head coach for discus throwing of the Czechoslovak National Team. He held progressively responsible positions in Czechoslovakia until his defection in 1985. [ [http://www.aminolabs.net/resume-pataki.html Resume, Ladislav Pataki, Phd., C.Sc.] , accessed April 11, 2007]

In the U.S., Pataki continued his sports science career, influencing the training of a group of world-class throwers in the South Bay who were competing in shot put, discus, and hammer throw. The concentration of strength-event athletes became known as "Weight City." (Nearby San Jose State University had been nicknamed Speed City during its period of track and field success in the 1960s.) [ [http://www.speedcityera.com/index.html The Speed City Era] , accessed April 12, 2007] He also began a business career developing and marketing nutritional supplements.

In 2006, Pataki helped develop a nanotechnology-based skin care product at AmerElite Solutions, where he was the director of research and development. [ [http://losgatosobserver.com/los-gatos/Article.php?article_id=0273 Alastair Dallas, "Los Gatos Observer," "Ladislav Pataki (1946-2007): Cold War defector came to Los Gatos," April 11, 2007] , accessed April 11, 2007]

Masters competition

Pataki won world championships and set several records as a masters athletics (track and field) competitor in shot put, discus, and weight pentathlon. [ [http://www.powerlean.com/VAVA2001/Pataki2001.html Results of 2001 Masters Track & Field World Championships, Brisbane, Australia] , accessed at Pataki's PowerLean site April 12, 2007]

Bibliography

* Ladislav Pataki and Lee Holden, "Winning Secrets: Confessions of a Soviet Bloc Sports Scientist," 1989, Training Management Systems

Notes

External links

* [http://www.powerlean.com/ NutrLife/PowerLean] – Pataki's nutritional supplements company
* [http://www.drpataki.com/Clinic/Clinic.html Dr. Pataki's clinic page] – descriptions and photos of his shot put technique and training methods