Milan Orlowski

"At each championship, we won either gold or silver. The people could see that and knew our names. Today, if you stop someone on the street and ask about table-tennis, maybe they'd still know Hrachová and Panský. There are no active players to remember. As a matter of fact, it went into decline." - "Why so? Has the style changed?" - "I think it's a different era. Back then, we couldn't have travelled the world just like that. We were grounded here and practised here. We were practically always training at Sparta and then we went to Vlašim to train some more. And so we were really trained up. Only then did we go someplace to play. Today by contrast, with the open borders, some play in Italy, some in Germany, others in Poland and others still in France. Today, national team is not a priority. Back then, it was. All of our focus was on that. Today, the boys can travel wherever they want and national team means nothing to them."

"Then I had to pass through security at the airport and that made me very nervous. It was at the Prague Ruzyně airport and I was travelling to the World Cup in Hong Kong. I was invited there by the world federation, which covered all the costs. Flight tickets and all. But I had no money in my pockets. They were wondering I had no cash on me. I told them that they were awaiting me in Amsterdam and that we were then going to the World Cup. This made them suspicious and I had to undergo an inspection. They went through my handbag and my suitcase. I had around a thousand German Marks hidden in there, which was a great amount of money. They went through everything including a bag for documents but didn't find anything. They were getting ready for a body-search. This was it for me. I told them I wanted to talk to their supervisor, that I was no crook and wouldn't have them strip me naked. The officer went to get his supervisor and in the meantime, I took the thousand Marks and put it in the bag which already passed the inspection. The head of the shift came over and asked what were my complaints. I told him I was going to represent Czechoslovakia and instead, was getting a body-search as if I had stolen something. But his colleague insisted on the inspection. He got me stripped but luckily didn't look again in the bag. I walked through the customs zone and then had two whiskeys at the bar. My hands were shaking and I was incredibly nervous. Such were those times."