On Friday, May 15, 2026 at 9:45 p.m., television channel Two will broadcast a new episode of Medzi nami with Kata Martinkováwhich will invite viewers on an inspiring journey through the lives of extraordinary personalities who have one thing in common – an age that could have stopped many, but did not. The session will be devoted to the topic of longevity, active aging and what keeps a person in shape not only physically, but also mentally.
One of the guests will be hockey legend Jozef Golonka, a man nicknamed Žiletka, whose story is as sharp, dramatic and fascinating as his game on the ice. He was born on January 6, 1938 in Bratislava and became one of the best world hockey players of his time. From eight participations in the world championships, he took home three silvers and three bronzes, from the Olympics bronze from Innsbruck 1964 and silver from Grenoble 1968.
It was the captain who, before the legendary match against the then invincible Soviets in 1969, called his teammates together and said out loud what they all felt: “Let’s go there, beat them, and then we won’t shake hands with them.” And so it happened. Twice.
The triumph, which was not just a sporting one, was the defiance of the entire nation against the occupation, expressed on the ice in front of the eyes of the whole world. When the winning team then returned to Prague, half a million screaming people were waiting for them in the Old Town Square “Golonka to the castle,” he recalls today with emotion in his voice and then adds with a typical smile that he came to the microphone and answered the crowd: “And what would I do there?”
However, his life was not only about triumphs. He has more than 300 stitches on his body from various operations and almost lost his career – and possibly his life – after a serious injury in 1962, when he was first mistakenly treated for tuberculosis. A year off the ice, four months in Piešťany, and yet he came back and played in the Olympics.
During his career, he was inducted into four hockey halls of fame – international, Slovak, German and Czech. He met the Queen of England, the King of Sweden and Richard Nixon. “I haven’t washed my hand in a week,” he laughs. And although he received tempting offers from abroad, he never emigrated. He stayed. For the family, for the Slav, for Slovakia.
Jozef Golonka remembers his sporting beginnings
Although he went through tennis and figure skating, it was hockey that made him famous. Could figure skating have sharpened him in any way for hockey? “Come on, sometimes I even played the violin for that opponent when I scored a goal… And they didn’t like that! Then they chased me. Because I was of such a slim build, I was such a ‘little jaguar’. I wasn’t afraid and I did everything I had to do,” the legend admits.
“And that’s why my teammates liked me quite a bit. When there was a battle, I was sent there. And I always got a good fight there! And then I gave something away… But it was worth it. And they said, ‘Wow, you look good, you have a bruise under your eye!'” amused Golonka.
