Milo Duffek (CH)

Milo Duffek was one of the first paddlers to escape communist Czechoslovakia for the west, setting the pattern of frequent international migration that is central to the paddlesport community. Historian Bill Endicott writes: “Duffek never won a gold medal. In Merano Italy at the Worlds he won something even more precious: His Freedom.”

Milo Duffek qualified for 1948 Olympic Games in K2 1000 meter event, but Communist party refused to allow him to compete.

His daring defection happened during the 1953 World Championships in Merano, Italy. His trip from communist Czechoslovakia was heavily guarded. Endicott describes the event: “He was the favorite to win, but if he had won he would have been the center of attention. So he had to deliberately throw the race, deliberately miss a gate so the attention would be diverted from him that evening.”

Milo’s guard got drunk in the festivities that followed the Worlds, and Milo escaped with the help of the Swiss team. He had traded his chance to be World Champion for a new life and freedom. From his new home in Switzerland, Duffek shared his paddling expertise with a fast-growing audience in many countries, including teaching the roll, surfing, and even eddy turns to an unfamiliar audience in the US. He won the silver medal in K-1 Slalom 1955 World Championships, and fourth place in K-1 Slalom at the 1959 World Championships. He was also the first racer to introduce flat water training techniques to whitewater racing.

Clinics he taught overseas helped establish many other centers of whitewater sport, and established a pattern of international exchange in paddling. He popularized the turning draw stroke now known as the “Duffek”.