One year ago, photographs of Annamária, a Romani girl standing on the first place podium of an athletics competition in ballerina flats, went viral on Czech and Slovak social media. Despite her family being very badly off financially and living in a cabin in the Romani settlement of Moldava nad Bodvou, she beat more than 400 other children to win the 750 meter race.

Her talent was noticed by the local athletics club, which has taken her under their wing and is financially supporting her. Today, after one year of training, she is the best runner in her category in eastern Slovakia.

Slovak public broadcaster RTVS has been following up on her story. Annamária trains four times a week and excels all other members at her club.

"She's a medium distance runner. At this moment she is the best runner in eastern Slovakia in the category of older schoolgirls," Norobert Pecze, chair of the Legionnaires' Athletics Club, told RTVS television.

Link: http://www.romea.cz/en/news/world/slovakia-romani-girl-from-settlement-now-champion-runner-in-her-region

Ladislav Žiga, a Romani man born in Prague's Žižkov quarter, has dedicated himself to boxing since childhood. In Prague he was trained by the legendary Stanislav Tišer, also from the Romani community, who dedicated himself above all to helping children who were spending time on the street.

Today the 30-year-old Žiga lives in Gloucester, England. He decided to follow in his trainer's footsteps and build a boxing team for children there.

Today Žiga teaches the sport to 25 children from the Czech and Slovak community. He shares not just his experience from sports with them, but also his lessons from life.
"We box and I supervise their school performance. This endeavor is about integrating them into normal life and thereby suppressing crime," he told HateFree.cz, the website of the Czech Government's Hate Free Cultureproject.

Žiga grew up in Žižkov, a neighborhood of Prague known for its Romani community and working-class history. His older brother, Vladimír, brought him to boxing at a very early age.

Link: http://www.romea.cz/en/news/world/england-czech-emigre-of-romani-origin-establishes-boxing-team-for-children-from-the-czech-republic-and-slovakia