„I have one such experience before the first World Championship. When we went to France, we flew by plane. My first Slovak colleague Eva Petrovičová-Polačeková, who is sadly, no longer with us, was a fantastic initiator of the match, she played in the basic setting. When we were boarding the plane, we were already seated inside but had not yet departed, suddenly the secret police entered, they took Eva and led her away. We were waiting, but in the end, we received an announcement that we cannot wait for her, she wouldn’t board the plane and fly with us. We were all perplexed. She had a brother in emigration. They searched her luggage, I don’t know whether they were scared that Eva would also emigrate, or that she was carrying him something, or maybe he had some contacts in Australia, where he lived. For all of us, it was a huge shock, the tournament being the last before the World Championship in Brazil. Without Eva, we couldn’t play well enough. Whole Czechoslovak Union of Sports pleaded Eva could travel to Brazil. When the D-day came, we were all tense, when boarding the plane, she would be taken away again, but, fortunately, she was accompanied by the chair of CSTV from one side and some office worker from Ministry of Interior on the other, and we flew to Brazil successfully with her. That was my experience with governmental power during normalisation. Also, such things could have happened.“
„I was satisfied with the separation with Czecho-Slovakia. I was like that all the time, my father was also a nationalist, and after the experience in national representation, when from the twelve players, there could have been only three or four Slovaks, I was persuaded, that when we’ll have an own state, many more people will have much more opportunities to learn not only in sport but also in other disciplines. Whether it was ministers or diplomats in foreign countries- representative offices, all there were only a few Slovaks. The central was in Prague, all roles were distributed there. I had a feeling we would develop faster as a nation separate, then as part of Czecho-Slovakia. I may be wrong, but I still feel, it is good like this.“
Do you remember where were you on August 21st?
“Yes, I remember very precisely. I was at home with my brother. My mother had a holiday back then, but she wasn't home. That was the first time they were screening the Beatles at the Prague cinema. My brother and I were ready to leave right away. I turned on the radio and wondered why their broadcasting such stupid radio play, they kept repeating something about troops and war and I don’t know what. I didn’t know where I was when I woke up in the morning, I still couldn’t believe something like that could have really happened. We had breakfast, got dressed and went into town. We were living on Zrinskeho, which was close to Holubyho, where was the gynaecological hospital, we lived opposite the hospital. It was just a short walk downhill to the centre when we were walking on the sidewalk, and when we were at the crossroad, around Palisady, we met our mother. She asked us: “Children, where are you going? You mustn’t go into town, there’s war.“ I asked:“ War?“ Mother replied:“ We were attacked by Russia.“ We were shocked. We were afraid to go on that day, but two, or three days after that, the city was in a great mood. The Russians were there, many people talked with them, they were perplexed themselves, why they were sent here because nothing was happening. The posters were the best, they were everywhere, with texts such as „I’ll exchange my love for the Soviet Union for a bucket of poppyseed dumplings“. Basically, mostly similar funny slogans. The entire corset was plastered with it. We were going to the centre and read it.“
Nataša Lichnerová-Dekanová was born on August 30, 1949, in Bratislava. The family was affluent middle class, the parents worked as non-communist officials. Natasa commenced a serious sports career at a relatively late age, but due to physical talents, she could compete with her peers and after a short, intense preparation she joined the teenagers‘ basketball team TJ Lokomotiva Bratislava. The title of champions of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic in the category of older adolescents opened for her the door to the national team. The international confrontation was also an opportunity to compare western and eastern bloc. In 1968, Natasa was a highschool graduate and eyewitness of the invasion of the Warsaw Pact troops into Bratislava. Normalisation brought more intense supervision of athletes, members of the State Secret Security travelled with the basketball team to the World Cup to Brazil in 1971, where they won silver medals. Natasa never joined the communist party, she finished her career at the end of the 1980s in the team, DBB Wien. She actively supported the Velvet Revolution on manifestations in the streets, she even welcomed the separation of the Czechoslovak Federation, considering it an opportunity to faster development for the Slovak nation.
