section_path: Early life and education
section_name: Early life and education
paragraph_text: Early life and education
  
  Ivana Marie Zelníčková was born on February 20, 1949, in Gottwaldov, Czechoslovak Socialist Republic (present-day Zlín, Czech Republic), the daughter of Miloš Zelníček (1927–1990) and Marie Zelníčková (née Francová, b. 1926). She was raised in a Catholic household. Her father was an electrical engineer and her mother worked as a telephone operator. Her father encouraged his daughter's skiing abilities, a practice she began at age four. After developing skills as a skier, Ivana joined the junior national ski team, which offered her opportunities to travel beyond the Soviet-era communist boundaries of what was then the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. She attended Charles University in Prague and earned a master's degree in physical education in 1972. In 1970 Ivana appeared on Czechoslovak Television in the children's television series Pan Tau.
  
  In 1988 Ivana told journalists she had been selected as an alternate on the Czechoslovak ski team during the 1972 Winter Olympics, specializing in downhill and slalom. However, Czechoslovakia only sent four female athletes to the 1972 Winter Olympics and none were alpine skiers. In 1989 Petr Pomezný, Secretary General of the Czechoslovak Olympic Committee, denied Ivana's claim and stated that, despite searching extensively, no record could be found of her involvement. In 2021 Snopes confirmed that Czechoslovakia had not sent female alpine skiers to the 1972 Winter Olympics.
  
  Ivana Marie Zelníčková was born on February 20, 1949, in Gottwaldov, Czechoslovak Socialist Republic (present-day Zlín, Czech Republic), the daughter of Miloš Zelníček (1927–1990) and Marie Zelníčková (née Francová, b. 1926). She was raised in a Catholic household. Her father was an electrical engineer and her mother worked as a telephone operator. Her father encouraged his daughter's skiing abilities, a practice she began at age four. After developing skills as a skier, Ivana joined the junior national ski team, which offered her opportunities to travel beyond the Soviet-era communist boundaries of what was then the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. She attended Charles University in Prague and earned a master's degree in physical education in 1972. In 1970 Ivana appeared on Czechoslovak Television in the children's television series Pan Tau.
  
  In 1988 Ivana told journalists she had been selected as an alternate on the Czechoslovak ski team during the 1972 Winter Olympics, specializing in downhill and slalom. However, Czechoslovakia only sent four female athletes to the 1972 Winter Olympics and none were alpine skiers. In 1989 Petr Pomezný, Secretary General of the Czechoslovak Olympic Committee, denied Ivana's claim and stated that, despite searching extensively, no record could be found of her involvement. In 2021 Snopes confirmed that Czechoslovakia had not sent female alpine skiers to the 1972 Winter Olympics.